Arcane
by Neospector
Summary: A retelling of the Arcane River storyline, featuring a team of 6 characters. Takes place in the same universe as my previous stories (only notable change: Tear and Kyle are currently dating). Join the hero Yuuki, the blaster Liuva, Aran, Tear, Xenon, and Hayato as they explore the strange and mysterious Arcane River. It's not "non-canon", it's "artistic liberty".
1. The Alliance gathers

Claudine sat at the conference table with a slight scowl on her face. She was finding it simply impossible to hate Ereve.

It was beautiful. Too beautiful. Flowers bloomed in spring and summer, leaves turned an incredible shade of ruby red in the fall, and in the winter the floating island was blanketed with crisp, pure snow completely unlike the icy tundra of El Nath. It was impossible to hate the natural wonder those knights called their home.

She wanted to consider it pretentious, as if it were above the beauty of Edelstein, but she knew that the flower gardens in her home city were just as beautiful. She mentally rolled her eyes at the thought of Elex's kindergarten class tending to the flowers; the very idea could have caused her to lapse into a diabetic coma.

The Alliance had worked out a lot of kinks in the relationship between the Knights and the Resistance. Black Heaven had virtually eliminated those kinks. By the time Damien had started his invasion, the two sides had agreed to work together as if it were simply the only natural thing to do. So why did Claudine really, really, really want to hate Ereve?

That would be because of the paper she found taped to her strategy notes in the Resistance headquarters this morning, featuring a crudely-drawn image of her and Neinheart, Cygnus's chief strategist, kissing. The image was surrounded by numerous hearts- several of which had been colored in with crayons- and featured the tagline "Claudy and Niney sittin' in a tree!", signed (in Belle's handwriting) "Brighton".

Tomorrow, Claudine decided, she was going to coat the hunter's jaguar saddle in Nependeath honey.

The chattering of the various heroes at the table indicated that everyone was present. And so, Neinheart politely rapped his knuckle on the table.

"Order, order!" He intoned. The chatter died down. Neinheart liked it when the chatter died down. The blue-haired man breathed in and out to calm himself. "Let's get down to business…"

"Hold up, Niney." The Empress's chief Thunder Breaker, Hawkeye, proceeded to interrupt the ceremony. "I gotta stop you right there for a sec. If this is another meeting about what to do about the World Tree, can we just skip everything and break for lunch?"

There was a murmur of approval. Ever since the legendary heroes had reported the fate of the World Tree following Damien's attempted invasion, most of the Alliance meetings consisted of talking about what they were going to do in the wake of such events.

"I have to agree." Luminous, the mage of light and darkness sighed. "As problematic as the situation is, we can't particularly do much about it."

"Problematic?" The Demon, former commander of the Black Mage, scoffed. "One of the most powerful gods in our world is gone. The only true rival of the Black Mage himself."

"Hey, what are we, chopped liver?" Alpha, the son of Rhinne, huffed. His sister, Beta, simply glanced back and forth between her brother and the rest of the table with an emotionless expression on her face.

"No," the Demon sighed, "you're just two halves of a whole."

"Oi! Say that again you purple-!"

"Enough!" Neinheart commanded, rather loudly. He sighed and proceeded to clean his monocle with a cloth.

"Alpha…Beta…while I respect your power, you two have only been Transcendents for so long. Your skills are nowhere near the level of the Black Mage. And to add to the issue, the Demon is correct; you are split from one being." Alpha opened his mouth to protest, but Neinheart continued. "Meaning this: if you want to reach the level of the Black Mage, both of you will need training. Even if you two recombined into one being- which I have serious qualms about even suggesting since that would amount to killing both of you- your powers combined are nowhere near that of your mother, let alone the Black Mage."

Alpha opened his mouth to speak again, but Beta put her hand on his shoulder.

"Alpha…he's right you know. We must get stronger. The both of us."

The male half of the Transcendent of Time shut his mouth, and promptly slumped in his chair, feeling defeated.

"That having been said…" The strategist continued. "The issue with the World Tree is not, in fact, why I called this meeting."

There was a murmur of confusion, which died after Neinheart gave a small look to the crowd.

"Well…spit it out then." Claudine crossed her arms. Admittedly, she was also curious about this turn of events, but she wouldn't dare let that curiosity show.

"Are you aware of the Three Doors?" Neinheart questioned the crowd cryptically.

"Three doors…?" Kyrin, the pirate captain, mused to herself. "Y'mean those three big ones what be in the Temple 'a Time?"

"Mother's temple?" Beta questioned.

"I have heard the legends." Lady Syl, leader of the Dual Blades supplied. "The three doors open the ways to the future, the present, and the past."

"The doors are real, and in fact very commonly seen by visitors, and they do as the legends say." Said Athena Pierce, the bowman instructor. "Typically they remain closed. However, the Door to the Past was broken into some time ago, and the Door to the Future was opened to…well…"

The crowd hung in solemn silence for a while. The future that was seen by Maple World…even if it was a dream, it just seemed so real.

"And the Door to the Present?" Inquired Kinesis, who, being from the Other World, had not been present to experience the dream the others had.

"That…" Athena paused. "Yuuki should be able to answer that, I think."

The mentioned warrior frowned. "The Door to the Present doesn't open for most people. I'm still not sure why it opened for me. Anyway, it leads to an area of the temple shrouded in darkness…" The warrior closed his eyes, remembering. "And at the end of the space was the room where the Black Mage is…er, was sealed. I haven't been able to enter since he broke free."

Luminous nodded. "When we went to fight him, that was the place he had chosen to command his forces from. I do not know why he chose it." Luminous glanced at the Demon, who merely shook his head as a sign of ignorance on the subject. The light mage continued, "However when I went to visit recently, the door was closed for me as well."

"It doesn't budge even when both of us tried to open it." Alpha snorted. "We asked mom, but she said it didn't always open for her either."

"The Temple is an ancient place, perhaps more ancient than Rhinne herself." Athena said. "It seems only logical there's some power behind it that doesn't make sense to us."

"Then let's quit trying to make sense of it! Quit tryna explain the unexplainable." Hawkeye harrumphed. "Niney, what's wrong with the big door? Missing the big doorbell?"

"It's open." The strategist said bluntly.

The table fell silent.

"I will physically slap anyone who shouts 'WHAT!' in my ear." Alpha said calmly.

"B-but…but how?!" The Demon exclaimed, quietly so the half-Transcendent wouldn't assault him.

"Wait, calm down for a second." Lady Syl stood up to help her voice carry. "Doesn't the door simply lead to where the Black Mage was sealed? That doesn't sound like a reason to call all of us here…"

"Unless the place where the Black Mage was sealed featured a swirling portal with blue sand spewing out of it, I don't think the door has opened to the same place we know of." Neinheart continued.

"The Temple, as Athena said, does have a strange power." Grendel the Really Old chimed in. "The doors do not simply lead to a single place, they lead to their corresponding times. That is why if you go back far enough through the Door to the Past you will reach the Twilight of Gods, even though no such area is visible from the outside of the Temple. The Door to the Future is an even better example. It does not seem much of a stretch to say the third door follows similar rules- or lack thereof."

"But…then…where does it lead?" Questioned Claudine.

"That…" Said Neinheart. "Is what I intend to find out."


	2. Meeting the team

Yuuki looked up at the stone architecture of the Temple of Time, and his thoughts went back to a few days ago.

* * *

"You intend…to find out?" Claudine questioned.

"Yes." Neinheart stated bluntly.

"Okay, Niney…" Hawkeye stared at Neinheart as if the strategist had just announced he was going to jump off the side of the island. "Here's my follow-up question: How, exactly?"

"I intend to send a search party." The strategist clarified.

It didn't answer much, but Hawkeye seemed more than satisfied with this answer. "Oh-ho?" The pirate grinned. "So, who's goin'?"

"That…" Neinheart said, "is something I have been deciding since I formulated this plan. After certain…events…involving sir Kaiser and…his girlfriend…" He emphasized the word, but not out of disgust or disapproval, more just from the effort of saying it. "…the concept of working together has been at the forefront of my mind."

"Let me guess…" Claudine almost groaned, but held it in. "You want to send a team of Resistance and a team of knights together to learn cooperation, right?"

"Wrong, actually." Neinheart said. "I have a group of six in mind that should be able to complete this task with…minimal difficulty. I've sent word to five of them already, and they have all agreed."

"Wait, who's the last one then?" Hawkeye questioned.

"The person who was there the last time the door opened." Neinheart said. Yuuki shifted uncomfortably.

"Yuuki, I would like to request that you be the leader of this expedition."

* * *

Yuuki's grumbling echoed off the temple walls. It's not like he could turn something like that down. Besides, he did this stuff all the time. No worse than those errands he had to run in the bottom of Ludibrium's clocktower…that place gave him the creeps.

Still…there was the matter of a giant, swirling portal in the middle of the- very open- Gate to the Present. Yuuki saw it immediately when he walked in. Sure to Neinheart's word, the portal spewed a bluish-grey sand that seemed to vanish as soon as it got more than a foot from the vortex. Definitely not what he saw the last time it opened. Not at all.

But right now he was to meet his team of fellow explorers in the Memory Keeper's room. Neinheart had reasoned that if anyone were to know something about what happened, it would be him, and so that was where they'd start their search. Just past the Gate to the Past, near the Resting Spot of Memory, standing on a ledge was the bearded man who would tell them what they needed. Yuuki took a deep breath, and entered the room.

"Well, finally." Yuuki turned to the voice. It seemed as if he was the last one to arrive; not a good first impression of a leader. Yet, he was still earlier than the appointed time, so if someone faulted him for that, they could ship themselves off to Mu Lung and sit on a Porky for all he cared. Yuuki surveyed his new team.

The voice he heard was Aran, the warrior of Rien. He got along with her as much as anyone else, and they talked briefly after she scolded (I.E. beat) him for his role in the little "ghost" incident at the hot springs. Totally not his fault, by the way.

Next to Aran was Xenon, the cyborg. Admittedly, Yuuki was a bit weirded out by the mechanical and computerized parts at first, but mostly he simply felt pity for what the young man had gone through as a child. It actually made Yuuki feel a little bit better about the whole "Gelimer getting blown up by his own creations" thing on the Black Heaven. Okay, a lot better really.

Then there was Hayato. Yuuki hadn't really talked to the samurai outside of a small greeting every now and then. Not that there was much to discuss between the two; they didn't exactly hate each other, but they didn't get along as friends either.

Sitting on a small planter was a girl Yuuki had maybe seen once or twice standing with the Resistance at the Alliance meetings. She had long, black hair with a small accessory shaped like a feather attached to a pressure gauge- typical Edelstein style- and was dressed in a black and white outfit, with a half-skirt trailing off the end. On her arms…were two incredibly threatening-looking, mechanical gauntlets, the one on her right arm had a glowing point attached to the top. Yuuki made a mental note to try and not make her angry right away.

And finally there was a plain-looking girl with orange hair with a pair of small, black horns nestled within, and a pair of purple wings sticking out of her back. Tear, the alter-ego of the Angelic Buster. A girl he had (kind of, sort of, not really) tricked into announcing her love for her childhood friend. Good times…

Neinheart had definitely put together a team from varying backgrounds, that was for sure. None of them were particularly close, but none of them hated each other either. Get in, get the mission done, get out, with as little infighting or drama as possible. Efficiency at its finest.

The warrior gave a small wave and was met with varying degrees of responses from the group.

"Yuuki-san." Surprisingly, Hayato was the first to approach. The samurai bowed. "It will be a pleasure to work with you."

"Likewise." Yuuki returned the bow.

"I haven't seen you since Chase got all crazy about love." Tear chimed in.

Yuuki shrugged. "Eh, been busy, as always. How's Kyle?"

Tear huffed. "I wanted to go with him on this mission, but Neinheart started lecturing me about a relationship on the battlefield being disruptive to the mission."

The girl Yuuki didn't know snorted at the sound of the blue-haired strategist's name, but offered no other response.

"Heya kid, not fooling around with any more 'ghosts', right?" The legendary polearm hero raised her fist. Yuuki held up his hands innocently, then proceeded to form his own fist and bump hers.

"Yuuki." Xenon stared at the warrior. Yuuki stared back, chuckling awkwardly a bit. The cyborg cracked a small smile. "I hope we can all get along." Yuuki nodded in agreement, before walking over to the unknown girl. He coughed slightly to indicate that she should introduce herself.

The girl took a slightly condescending look at Yuuki, then sighed and cracked a small- but very sincere- smile.

"Liuva." She said. "I'd shake, but…" She held up the mechanical gauntlet, which whirred as the fingers moved. "I'm a blaster. Pretty new to the ranks of the Resistance, but ready to kick some serious Black Wing butt."

Liuva lightly and playfully punched Yuuki on the shoulder, which nearly knocked Yuuki over as a result.

"C'mon, let's go see what beardy has to say about that big door."

Yuuki immediately decided to spite Neinheart by making friends with all of them.


	3. What makes up the world

"Welcome." It was difficult to tell if the Memory Keeper was smiling or not. His beard- longer than his body- obscured much of his facial features, and his eyes were hidden with a black blindfold.

"I have been expecting you." The ancient man finished.

Yuuki stepped forward in front of the other five.

"Then you will tell us." He asked. "About the door, that is."

The bearded man tilted his head, but otherwise gave no response.

"Probably ought to keep this short and sweet then…" Aran said with a rather serious face. "What made the door open?"

"I do not know." The Memory Keeper answered. The faces in the group displayed varying levels of surprise.

"Inquiry…" Xenon began, displaying the least amount of surprise. "Rather than asking the exact cause of the door opening, would it be more appropriate to ask a more basic question regarding its status?"

"Huh?" Tear asked, confused.

"What I think he means…" Liuva clarified, "…is that instead of asking him why the door is open, we should be asking something else. Something more simple."

"Perhaps the question we should ask…" Hayato's eyes narrowed. "Is there something wrong with the door?"

"Hmm…" The bearded man's eyes seemed to twinkle behind his blindfold, but it was impossible to tell if they were even open. "That I will try to answer to the best of my ability…"

The Memory Keeper took a deep breath, and began.

"As I said, I do not know what has caused the Door to the Present to open. I additionally do not know what has caused it to open publicly rather than to a specific person. Nor do I know what is behind it. But, there is something more, something odd."

"Something odd?" Asked Aran. "With a dramatic pause?"

"Indeed. I do not believe there is a connection- in fact I pray there is not- but regardless, there is something."

"And that is…?" Yuuki asked.

"Are any of you aware of the 'Erdas Flow'?"

"Er...das...flow?" Tear asked, puzzled.

"Yes, the Erdas Flow." The Memory Keeper looked up at the sky; a timeless sea of blue on which floated a sparkling aurora and shimmering illusions of non-existent heavenly bodies.

"The Erdas Flow is the energy that makes up the world. Far more primal than simple magic or life force, it is the essence of the world itself. Erdas are like a living energy, undergoing a constant cycle of creation and destruction. They are the link between Maple World and other worlds, being the most basic building blocks of reality."

"That…sounds super important." Tear mumbled.

"Indeed." The Memory Keeper continued. "Without the Erdas, nothing would exist. Which is why I was terribly concerned to discover that the Erdas seem to be slowly…disappearing."

The group jumped back at the statement.

"Maybe I'm hearing things…" Liuva started. "…but I swear you just said the things that literally make up things are FRIGGIN' DISAPPEARING?!"

"Indeed." The Memory Keeper confirmed.

"That sounds…problematic." Hayato rested his hand on his katana and began to fumble with the handle in a nervous habit.

"S-scary…" Tear whimpered.

"…concerning." Xenon said bluntly.

Aran spoke up. "So what do we do? Ya' think whatever's happening to the Erdas is related to the door?"

"Perhaps…" The man stroked his beard. "…although it may be easier if you all know what we're dealing with."

The Memory Keeper held his palm towards the group. "Relax your minds. I shall connect you. Let you see the world for what it is."

The group did as instructed, each member closing their eyes, relaxing as a web of invisible power flitted around them.

"Let you see…the Erdas Flow."

* * *

"Hey, um, anybody? Can anybody hear me?"

Yuuki's eyes snapped open, only he wasn't awake. He felt like he was floating in some inky black expanse. He seemed unable to move his head, or if he was moving his head, he couldn't tell. He couldn't feel his body; he knew he was there, and yet, he was not there.

The inky blackness faded into a soft blue. Trails of lights that didn't glow so much as they simply existed inside a void. Spots like stars drifted within the river of power, swirls of green occasionally mix with the teal to give it substance.

Finding that despite his lack of existence, he could still speak, Yuuki took a deep breath.

"H-hello?" He ventured, trying to answer the voice he heard earlier.

"Oh yay! It's somebody!" The voice answered back.

"W-who are you?" Yuuki managed.

"Oh, um…" The voice hesitated. "So…hi! I'm the…er…we're the Erdas! Me and my friends make up everything in the whole wide world! Isn't that neat? We used to flow through the World Tree like syrup…but now that the World Tree is kinda gone, the Black Mage has been stealing us away, little by little."

Yuuki wasn't quite sure if he was surprised that the Black Mage had something to do with this. The whole 'talking to the building blocks of reality' seemed to be deteriorating his world view at the moment.

"It's super scary!" The voice- the Erdas- continued. "There's like, this big hand that comes out of a giant door and it's all 'RAR IMMA TAKE YOU AWAY!'- I mean, it doesn't say that…'cause it's a hand. That's just the vibe I get. You gotta help!"

'Ok,' Yuuki thought, 'so the Door to the Present is definitely involved…'

"Um…" Yuuki hesitated. "Well…let's start off with something basic then…what are you, exactly?"

"We're energy!" The Erdas answered enthusiastically. "Pure, formless power, propping up the whole wide world. Everything comes from us, animal, vegetable, or mineral, and returns to us when it's…y'know…done."

Yuuki thought about this. "Then, why is the Black Mage trying to take you?"

The Erdas seemed to hesitate. "I'm pretty sure the Black Mage wants to use us to create a whole new world. I forgot how long things have been super scary, but if it keeps up we're all gonna be gone soon! And that means your world goes bye-bye too!"

'Yep.' Thought Yuuki. 'Not good. Not good at all."

Suddenly, Yuuki felt a tug on his being, trying to pull him out of the void.

"Aww nuts!" The Erdas exclaimed. "Out of time already?"

"W-wait!" Yuuki shouted, the tug getting stronger. "How do I accept your power?"

"Just believe in yourself! Think happy thoughts" The Erdas shouted back, as Yuuki faded back into being. "And talk to the goddess of your world! She's super helpful!"

* * *

Yuuki's eyes opened to reality this time. The other members of the group were doing the same.

"Do you see now?" The Memory Keeper asked. "Do you understand the importance of the Erdas?"

Yuuki remained silent; breathless.

"I…talked to them." He finally said.

The Memory Keeper seemed shocked. "You spoke to the Erdas? Can this be true?"

"I-is that a problem?" Yuuki asked.

"I have observed the Erdas my whole life…" Said the Memory Keeper. "…but never have I communicated with them in any way."

"I heard them too." Aran mused. "They were kind of…"

"Childlike." Hayato finished.

"Beautiful." Tear commented.

"Not exactly what I expected." Liuva added.

"Beyond my comprehension." Xenon stated.

"If the Erdas spoke to you…" The Memory Keeper stroked his beard. "…then you have a grander fate than I suspected. The Erdas wish to give you their power, so that you can protect them."

"That sounds sweet." Liuva grinned. "How does it work?"

"According to legend…" The Memory Keeper began. "…in ancient times, after the fall of the 365 gods, the goddesses used the Erdas to sculpt the world into being. Supposedly there have been a select few…human, elf, demon, and dragon…who have learned the art of manipulating the Erda Flow from the goddesses themselves."

"So…" Aran crossed her arms. "We find a goddess who can shape the Erdas, and get them to teach us."

"Great." Liuva said, sarcastically. "Just call up a goddess, who doesn't have one of _them_ on speed-dial?"

"Actually…" Yuuki mused. "…I think I might know someone who can help."


	4. The human goddess

Yuuki breathed deeply. Maple Island always had this air about it that he loved. It smelled like trees, but not a damp, earthy smell like one would find in a forest, it was a sweeter smell; it smelled the way maple syrup tasted, he couldn't really describe it that well. But it made him feel at home.

The group of six had, after spending some time on an airship, docked at Southperry and made their way through Amhearst, with Yuuki leading the way. He had been particularly cryptic about where they were going, which annoyed Aran and confused Tear.

"Hey, Eskalade?" Tear whispered into her shoulder.

"Wassup, pretty butt?" The voice of the Nova god answered back.

"Don't call me that." Tear shrugged a bit and brushed off a maple leaf that had landed on her clothes. "I wanted to ask, did you know about the Erdas?"

"Those things? Yeah, I knew about them." The dragon mused. "Never dealt with them, if that's what you're wondering. I tried to learn, but the crazy lady kicked me out."

"Crazy lady?"

"Different worlds do have different gods." The dragon tut-tutted. "Yuuki is probably trying to find the goddess of Maple World. You and me? We're from Grandis, so who do you think I learned from?"

"The goddess of Grandis? She's a crazy lady?"

"Precisely."

Tear scoffed. "She kicked you out, that sounds pretty sane to me."

"Madam, I take offense." The Nova god feigned shock.

Tear was trying to come up with a witty response when she walked straight into Xenon, who had stopped in the middle of the road.

"O-oh, sorry!" Tear sputtered out.

"Do not worry. You have done nothing wrong." The cyborg answered. His expression seemed vacant. "Tear…I have an inquiry."

"Huh?"

"A question."

"O-oh. I knew that. Go ahead."

The two began walking again to catch up to the others.

"What do you believe we shall find when we eventually enter the Door to the Present?"

Tear pondered this for a while. The Black Mage was behind this, so there would be monsters, obviously. There were always monsters. But as for what else might be beyond that vortex, what they might find, or worse, who they might find…

"I dunno." Tear answered. "…there's sand, maybe it's a beach?"

Xenon seemed to process this response for several seconds before letting loose a small chuckle.

"That response…" Xenon giggled unprofessionally. "…made me feel very human, and that is a compliment. Thank you, Tear."

"Don't mention it." Tear giggled back.

The two stopped alongside Aran, Liuva, and Hayato. Yuuki stood a few feet in front of them, standing in front of a small house. In the distance, atop a small hill, stood a lone maple tree. Yuuki stared into the leaves of the far-off tree until he heard a voice.

"Y-yuuki?!"

The voice was quiet, almost timid. A girl's voice. The source of which emerged from behind a small bush off to the side; a girl with light brown hair, wearing a green dress and holding a staff with an elaborate golden pattern on it. Her hair was shaped into two long pigtails that cascaded down her back, and she wore a small hairpin in the shape of a flower. Yuuki gave her a warm smile, and the girl's expression became one of glee.

"Yuuki!" The girl ran forward and gripped the warrior in a vice-like embrace.

"Erk…S-sugar…air…" Yuuki gasped as he heard two of his ribs crack.

"S-sorry!" The girl exclaimed and dropped the warrior. Yuuki put his hand on her shoulder, partially for support as he stood up.

"You dragged us all the way out here to see your girlfriend?" Aran asked, eyebrows raised. Sugar flushed crimson.

"She's not my-!" Yuuki began, but stopped himself. "…oh never mind. If I try to fight it you'll only wind up teasing more, and we're on a bit of a tight schedule." The warrior straightened up. "Sugar, this is Aran, Xenon, Liuva, Tear, and Hayato." He pointed at each member of the group in turn, who gave varying methods of greeting.

"And everyone, this is Sugar…"

"Look…" Liuva commented. "As romantic as it is to say goodbye to your lover before you leave on a big mission, we've got bigger fish to fry, like finding-"

"Sugar is the goddess of Maple World." Yuuki finished.

Liuva opened her mouth to say something, but immediately shut it. Yuuki immediately felt extremely smug.

"Hold up." Aran raised her hands. "You're the goddess of Maple World. You."

Sugar flushed and rubbed the back of her head.

"Well, she's the goddess's 'other self'." Yuuki clarified. "The goddess doesn't have a physical form, so she sent Sugar out into the world in her stead."

"So she is…human?" Hayato questioned.

"Uhh…" Yuuki frowned and started thinking about this. Then he shook his head. "Doesn't matter really. Don't think about it too much."

The warrior turned to Sugar.

"Hey, so the reason I came…" He took a deep breath. "It's about the Erdas Flow…"

Sugar frowned slightly. "What about it?"

Yuuki sighed and relayed the story of their meeting with the Memory Keeper- and their meeting with the Erdas. Sugar's expression read like an open book at each high and low.

"…and when the Memory Keeper mentioned that the goddesses had learned how to manipulate the Flow, I immediately thought of you."

Sugar's expression faltered. "I-I…I mean…I can't manipulate Erdas myself…but…"

"Your other self can, right?" Asked Yuuki.

"Y-yes…just…" Sugar heaved a deep breath. "Yuuki…this mission…it sounds dangerous."

"I've been in worse." The warrior smiled. "I promise, I'll be okay."

Sugar smiled back. "A-alright…I'll send you to my other self. You can find her in a space called the Event Horizon. N-normally it's inaccessible, but I can open a portal there." Sugar glanced at the tree in the distance. "B-but only two at a time. Six people is a bit…"

"Fine, fine, whatever." Scoffed Liuva. "Let's go already!"

The blaster immediately charged up the hill. Hayato sighed and followed her, Xenon shortly after. Yuuki gave Sugar another grin, and set off as well.

Aran walked alongside Sugar with her hands resting on her head as she walked.

"So..." The legendary hero mused. "You're the human version of a goddess, right?"

"U-um, yes! Kind of…"

"But you're human, right? Or at least, mortal?"

"U-um…y-yes? I think?"

"Oho." Aran chuckled. "So that means you and Yuuki can be together, at least."

Sugar flushed a shade of red that was close to black. "T-t-that's…! W-we're…! I-I-I'm not…! It's not like thaaaaaaat!"

Aran let out a laugh. The shy ones are always fun to mess with.


	5. The first test

"…I'm telling you, i-it's not like that!" Sugar exclaimed as the two trudged up the hill.

"Uh-huh." Aran smirked.

"I-it's the truth! He doesn't…! A-and I don't…! And you shut up!"

"We're here." Aran said bluntly.

Sugar harrumphed and marched through the small group of explorers, before coming to a stop in front of the giant maple tree. She took a deep breath; in and out.

"I…I mean the goddess…I mean my other self…resides in the Event Horizon, a place close to the Erdas Flow."

The mage placed a hand on the trunk of the tree, and the area underneath began to glow a soft blue. Sugar removed her hand, and the blue palmprint expanded, twisting clockwise into an oval. There was a soft sound like a jingling of bells, and the edges of the portal stabilized. Sugar stepped to the side. The portal pulsed slightly, but unlike the portal to Pantheon or the Dimensional Mirror, the interior appeared to be a solid wall of blue energy, marked with a light pattern.

"Two at a time, p-please."

Yuuki stepped forward first. The rest of the group hesitated to find an order. Finally, Liuva stepped forward and stood to the side of Yuuki. Sugar gave a slight nod and Liuva motioned to the portal.

"After you." She said.

Yuuki shrugged, took a deep breath, and walked into the blue wall.

* * *

It felt like the time the Memory Keeper had opened their eyes, only this time, Yuuki could see his body just fine. Wisps of energy trailed around him like clouds. He felt himself land on something solid; some kind of invisible platform. Around him was a cloud of stars and a glowing blue light, not unlike a miniature sunrise.

"Wow." Yuuki heard a voice behind him. He turned to see Liuva, staring in awe at the same sights he saw. She looked at him and the two nodded in understanding; they began to walk towards the blue light. As the light became closer, Yuuki could see a stone arch, surrounded by rocks and flowering plants, suspended in the void around them. In the center of the arch floated a familiar figure.

The two humans approached the figure and stared. The figure stared back.

"Goddess." Yuuki greeted.

The being smiled warmly. "Hello, Yuuki. It's been a while."

"You know why we're here, then?" The warrior ventured.

"I do." The goddess closed her eyes. "And I shall help you…but…"

"But…?" Liuva crossed her arms.

"You must pass a test...a simple one; no impossible hurdles, no feats of strength, nothing like that."

"Alone, or together?" Liuva asked, suspicious.

"Alone." The goddess answered.

The two humans glanced at each other. Yuuki stepped forward, and Liuva walked a few paces away to sit on one of the floating rocks. The goddess turned her attention to the explorer.

"Yuuki…"

"I haven't seen you since Maple Island was in flames…" The warrior chuckled, then straightened up. "What is your test?"

"One simple question." The goddess answered.

"Ask away."

The goddess closed her eyes. "What is it that you cherish the most in this world?"

This caught Yuuki by surprise. He began to think. He cherished a lot of things; he cherished the world itself, he cherished the people in it, he cherished the stuffed yeti his mother once bought for him which he named "Mr. Snowflake". But cherished the most? In the whole world? There was only one answer.

He thought of his departure on the boat, where he first met Sugar. He thought of the time Olive was accused of stealing the gem of Nihil Desert by Rondo. He thought of the time he and the other four worked together to rebuild Maple Island by hand.

"…my friends who I adventured with." Yuuki finally said.

The goddess smiled.

"I see." She said. "That must not have been easy to answer. People have many things that are precious to them. There is no right answer…I simply wanted to know where your priorities lie. Please, hold out your hand."

Yuuki did so, and the goddess waved her own hand. The air above Yuuki's palm shimmered blue, and a small, irregular stone marked with an unidentifiable symbol appeared. Yuuki clutched the object.

"That is an Arcane Stone. It is proof of my approval of your abilities. When you leave this place, and all six of you have passed the test, the stone will gain its true power. To pass through the Gate to the Present, you must have the approval of three manipulators of the Erdas."

"Grandis and the Other Wor- I mean…Earth?"

"Grandis, indeed. However, the portal to Earth was opened only recently. I am not aware if its god or goddess- if it even has one- can manipulate the Erdas." The goddess sighed. "You should seek out the goddess of Tynerum instead; the guardian goddess of the demons. She can be…difficult…but not impossible to deal with."

"More travelling?" Yuuki asked wearily. This was beginning to take longer than expected, and the more time they spent in Maple World the more Neinheart was going to complain.

The goddess chuckled slightly. "I can divert the portal to the goddess of Grandis, two of your group can take her test, and two may take the test of Tynerum's goddess. Worry not about Neinheart."

Yuuki smiled, and glanced back. Liuva looked up from her shoe and tapped on an imaginary watch with great exaggeration.

"I should finish up." The warrior concluded.

The goddess smiled warmly.

"Good luck."

* * *

With a soft flash, Yuuki was back on Maple Island's hill. The sun had ticked a few degrees towards the west, so he estimated they'd been gone for about ten minutes. He quickly pocketed the Arcane Stone and walked over to the group. The remaining four stared at him in curiosity, and he responded with a small smile.

"Piece of cake." He said. He then proceeded to explain the situation.

About three minutes later, Liuva reappeared. Her face was contorted into a scowl. Yuuki frowned.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing." The blaster answered bluntly, the usual pep in her voice was replaced with a venom. "None of your business. I don't want to talk about it."

The blaster tromped off to the side and sat down, staring at the view from the hill.

Yuuki's frown deepened. Maybe the goddess had asked her something that struck a nerve. He wanted to console her, but something told him he might be better off letting her cool off. He decided to leave it be for now.

The warrior watched the leaves of the maple tree rustle in the soft breeze. Light trickled through and made the shadows dance playfully along the ground. He felt strangely nostalgic. He usually did before he went on a big adventure.


	6. The second test

Tear watched the glowing blue portal ripple inwards with energy. She had volunteered to take the test presented by the goddess of Grandis. It made sense; she was a Nova, after all. Beside her stood Xenon, who stared blankly at the portal ahead. Tear had to admit, she was a bit unnerved by the cyborg, but she did feel a strange kinship with him; he had been through so much when he was young, it made the teasing and bullying she experienced as a child just for lacking a tail look shallow in comparison.

Plus, y'know, Xenon could be his own nightlight with all the light-up bits. That was pretty cool, too.

The cyborg turned to the Nova girl. Tear took a deep breath, and walked into the portal.

* * *

Floating through space felt weird to Tear. Like swimming, but without the pressure from the water. The girl landed softly on an invisible platform, and the cyborg arrived shortly afterwards. The two took in their surroundings- Tear awestruck by the beauty of it all- before beginning their march towards the bright light Yuuki had described.

The pair approached a stone arch decorated with various Nova building designs, as well as plants native to both Pantheon and Heliseum. In the center of the arch floated a figure in the shape of a ghostly pink dragon. Tear couldn't help but feel that the figure- the goddess- felt somewhat…two dimensional…but quickly shook her head to relieve such worries. The figure's eyes snapped open, and a booming but clearly female voice spoke up.

"Welcome, it is good to see you both." The goddess paused, then stared intently at Tear for a moment. Tear couldn't help but fidget slightly.

The eyes of the dragon narrowed and she let loose a snarl.

"YOU!" She shouted.

"M-me?!" Tear stammered out.

"I TOLD YOU NEVER TO COME TO THIS PLACE AGAIN!"

Tear was about to open her mouth when a second dragon figure materialized in between the goddess and the two mortals. This time, a blue dragon, with a more defined, physical existence.

"Aw, c'mon baby…" Eskalade cooed. "Didn't you miss me? Even a little bit?"

Xenon's normally emotionless expression was replaced with one of surprise.

"You…you…FILTHY unforgivable BEAST!" The goddess raged. "How DARE you speak to me after what you did?!"

"I was just having a little fun!" Defended the filthy, unforgivable beast.

"FUN?!" The goddess fumed. "Nowhere in the Afterlands would that ever be considered 'fun'!"

Eskalade smirked. "I mean, I may know a few places."

The goddess seemed to turn a deeper shade of red, and the air around the mortals seemed to grow heavy.

"Leave this place at once!" The goddess demanded. "Never return!"

"W-wait, huh?!" Tear exclaimed. "Y-you can't! We need-!"

"LEAVE!" The goddess boomed. Tear felt herself being dragged backwards by some cosmic wind that grabbed on to her clothes and yanked her around.

Tear gave a small, but determined growl. She stamped her foot solidly on the invisible platform and with as much force as she could muster, she shouted out.

"NO!" The words seemed to echo through the space as the force dragging her backwards died down.

Unwilling to lose the momentum, Tear turned to Eskalade.

"Relic. Inside. Now." She ordered.

"H-hey, hold on a second sweet-"

"Relic. Inside. Now. Shut mouth." She demanded further.

The blue dragon gulped and disappeared in a fizzle. Tear sighed and turned to the goddess, whose red hue had faded slightly back to the original pink.

"…you are quite brave to order him around, and yet you act as a vessel for that…that beast." The goddess gave Tear and icy stare, but Tear held her ground.

"I don't have much of a choice." The Nova girl answered. Tear took a deep breath. "Do you know what happened with me? And what happened with me and Kyle…the Kaiser?"

The goddess stared. "I do not typically engage in the affairs of mortals. But, you are the Kaiser's…lover, are you not?"

Tear nodded, not even bothering to blush at the statement.

"I am…I love Kyle, with all my heart I do love him." Tear felt herself shaking, but commanded herself to remain steady. "And as annoying as it is, without Eskalade I'm nothing. If I hadn't met Eskalade, I wouldn't have my powers, I wouldn't have my friends, and I wouldn't have…" She felt her eyes begin to water slightly, so she kept her head down. "…I wouldn't have Kyle. I would be alone, sitting in a ruined fort made out of bedsheets pretending to be useful while Kyle fought by himself. Worse than that, fought his best friend by himself."

Tear waved her hand in front of her, and a series of pink sparkles flitted out.

"Without Eskalade I wouldn't be able to do that. I…I was born without magic of my own. I need to rely on the power of others, no matter how much I don't want to."

Tear turned her head up at the goddess sharply. Water lined her eyes but she refused to actually cry.

"But what's wrong with that?!" She shouted angrily. "Even if my power is not my own, I can at least use it to fight! And if I have to suffer through some perverted dragon's delusions about making me into a superhero pop idol- an idol for crying out loud- then so be it! If it's necessary to fight Magnus…if it's necessary to fight the Black Mage…if it's necessary to fight them or anyone like them alongside my friends…alongside Kyle…then I'll do anything it takes!"

Tear straightened and looked the goddess in the eyes.

"Now, please! Give us your test, goddess!"

A stunned silence hung in the void. Tear and the goddess glared at each other in some kind of imaginary contest to see who would relent first. Finally, the goddess heaved a sigh and turned to Xenon.

"And you, human, would you do the same?"

Xenon blinked. He had been analyzing the emotional outburst Tear had made; neurons and circuits sped along trying to determine what he ought to say.

"My power…" The cyborg started. "It is also…borrowed…though not willingly. Moreover, unlike Tear, I cannot give my power back to its progenitor. The details, however, are irrelevant to the final conclusion."

Xenon's normally blank face contorted into a determined expression. "I will use this power to regain what I have lost. Whether or not it was mine originally is irrelevant to what I intend to do with it. I have been given power, and I shall use it."

There was another silence.

Finally, the goddess heaved another sigh.

"I can't exactly argue with either of those two speeches." The goddess's voice seemed calmer than before. "One made from emotion, one made from logic, both determined to fight for what they believe in. You have my approval."

As the goddess finished speaking the air in front of Tear shimmered. Tear held out her hand, and an irregular orange stone appeared.

Tear gave a sigh of relief, followed by an awkward bow.

"T-thank you, goddess."

"My dear…" The goddess spoke soothingly. "You have more of your own power than you realize. I realize that living with that…beast…can be a burden far greater than any individual battle." The goddess chuckled. "That alone may have qualified you for my test."

Tear giggled a bit and nonchalantly rubbed the drying tears from her eyes.

"For the sake of both Grandis and Maple World…" The goddess said as Tear felt herself fade from the Event Horizon. "…I hope you do well."


	7. The final test

Aran huffed. She knew that proving one's worth was crucial in the life of an honorable warrior, but…

Liuva came back angry, Tear had very obviously been crying, and even Xenon had been showing some emotion. None, however, were exhausted. To gain a power like the Erdas, one had to be strong both physically and mentally. Since the first four people weren't being tested physically, the test had to be a test of the heart and mind.

Beside her, Hayato had his eyes closed and was breathing slowly. Meditating, no doubt; calming himself for the test about to come. Truthfully, Aran was doing the same, just with her eyes open. Physical tests were only difficult to those lacking in spirit, but emotional tests almost always took a toll.

Aran half-wondered why Yuuki came back smiling.

The legendary hero and the samurai both made a noise of determination, and the two entered the portal.

* * *

The two spent far less time than the other four admiring the scenery of the Event Horizon, and instead walked straight ahead to the stone arch. Aran noticed specifically that the arch was wrapped in the pulsing purple branches of the corrupted World Tree. Of course; the largest focus of demonic energy had been (however briefly) in the hands of a psychotic warrior hellbent on the total annihilation of the human race. A psychotic warrior that Aran had helped take down. And now Aran was going to meet with the goddess that blessed the demon race. Woo-freaking-hoo.

The warrior and the samurai stopped a few paces short of the arch. In the center floated a girl with scarlet hair tied into a loose ponytail. Embedded in her back were two large, black, semi-transparent wings; the wings of a pureblood demon. The goddess had her back turned to them.

Aran stood steady. Hayato placed his hand on his blade and breathed calmly. The two waited patiently.

"If Maple World is a world of rules and order…" The goddess finally said. "…Tynerum is a world of chaos and uncertainty. We played as shadows do in the candlelight for too long."

The goddess turned to face them.

"You are here to seek my power." She said.

Aran nodded in confirmation.

The goddess sighed. "In truth, I have no interest in the affairs of Maple World. But the balance between their world and ours must be preserved. The Black Mage must be stopped."

"Such is the truth." Said Hayato. "You must test us to prove our worth, correct?"

The goddess chuckled. "I can already sense you are both trained warriors; you radiate power and carry yourselves with honor. Tynerum values power. But, I must test you all the same, making my job a lot harder. The only good thing is I get to pick what test you go on."

A purple magic circle formed beneath Hayato, intricate lines flowing from the center spelling words in a language neither warrior could identify.

"I have not yet seen your power, swordsman." The goddess said. "Defeat your opponent, and I shall grant you my approval."

The samurai gripped the hilt of his sword, and disappeared in a flash of purple light.

Aran cracked her knuckles. "And me?"

"I have seen your power, 'hero'. Notably when you clashed against the Wolf." The goddess's eyes narrowed. "There is something I must ask you…"

* * *

Hayato lifted his head to find himself in a large cavern. In the dead center of the cavern was a large, blue heart-shaped crystal embedded in the rock and attached to numerous vines that connected it to the ceiling. The heart-rock seemed to pulse rhythmically.

In front of him was a bubbling cloud of purple energy. The energy swirled together and began to take the form of a large spider with glowing red eyes. Encrusted upon its back was a stone, covered in moss, that was spewing out a black smoke. The creature didn't screech, but instead made a chittering noise as it landed on the ground. As soon as the creature landed, the heart-rock turned a pale shade of red.

Hayato grinned and partially unsheathed his sword. This fight looked interesting.

Without a second thought, the samurai charged at the beast.

* * *

Aran sighed.

'Here it comes...' She thought. 'Sappy emotional speeches and "oh how was Damien in the fight?", "oh not bad, just a murderous mortal-turned-god ready to leech the life force out of everything but other than that…"'

"What is your favorite color?"

"Well his parries could have used some work but…" Aran blinked. "Wait, what?"

"I asked what your favorite color is."

"T-that's it?" Aran asked, surprised. "Nothing about the fact that I fought against Damien? One of the most powerful-"

" _Damien_ " The goddess said with a hint of annoyance, " _was_ an ambitious demon. He was neither the most powerful, nor the most ambitious, nor evil, nor justified. He was a person. He fought, he died. I know, I saw."

Aran opened her mouth, but the goddess continued.

"Further, I know everything about your fight. I know you beat Damien, I know you're strong. And, like I said before, the Black Mage must be stopped." The goddess huffed. "Which is why you don't need to prove yourself. The only reason I sent that swordsman off was because I had never seen his ability before. Tynerum values strength; I know you have strength, which is why my test for you is a simple question. Now, answer."

Aran felt like protesting; arguing that she should be sent to kill some giant dragon or climb up the world tree in under a minute to prove her worth, but at the same time…

"…green." She finally said.

The goddess snorted.

"What's so funny?!" Aran exclaimed.

"Heh…nothing…just so simple…'green'." The goddess chortled.

Aran puffed and angrily tapped her foot. At the same time, she felt a twinge of relief that this wouldn't take an emotional toll. Hell, maybe she could even be friends with this goddess…

"Huhu…'green'…ehehe…" The goddess continued to snicker.

Or, maybe not.

There was a flash of purple light, and Hayato was back to his original location beside Aran. The samurai sheathed his sword, turned to the goddess, and bowed.

"It is done." He said.

Aran gave him a swift kick in the shins.

"Ow!" Hayato exclaimed, and began hopping around in an undignified manner. "What in the world was that for?"

"Shut up!" Aran exclaimed. "I need to hit something!"

"Then hit something else!" The samurai shouted as he dodged another kick.

The goddess chuckled. "You are most certainly worthy of my power."

Aran stopped fooling around and held out her hand. Just above her open palm, a purple stone materialized out of thin air. The warrior gripped the stone tightly.

As the two warriors faded from the space, Aran could hear the goddess speaking once again.

"Good luck…you're going to need it."


	8. The journey begins

The days leading up to the actual expedition were uneventful. Yuuki said goodbye to Sugar, though the mage appeared to have more things (she held her tongue, however, partly for fear of Aran's subsequent and inevitable teasing), and the party boarded the ship back to Lith Harbor. They did argue for a bit about who should write the preliminary report to Neinheart, though due to her comment that "Mister Roboto could get it done faster _and_ photocopy it", Liuva was stuck with the task, grumbling about how "Belle would've found it funny".

The bureaucracy out of the way, the group finally arrived at the Temple of Time for the big day. Their expedition had drawn quite a crowd of people, much to Tear's chagrin, as she was forced to transform into her poofy battle outfit to avoid revealing her identity.

The crowd outside the temple parted to make way for the party, who were dressed in full armaments.

Yuuki lead the way; the black and blue Pensalir suit and cape, with his sword strapped to his back; the Briser Zweihander. The blade was as long as his back, with the fancily curved handle sticking up over his right shoulder. Usually he wore his Red Barbute helmet, but lately he had abandoned it for the sake of better speed.

Aran followed Yuuki; her green top and bottom contrasted against her dark skin, and her fur cloak rested lightly on her shoulders. Maha was strapped to her back, behind the cloak.

Xenon walked next to Aran; his black suit lined his body perfectly, and the blue ornaments on the outfit matched the ones embedded in his skin. His whip blade was securely fastened at his hip, and it glowed an electrical blue.

Tear- that is, the Angelic Buster- came up behind them, in her typical, flashy outfit. Her soul shooter covered her right hand, and she used to produce blasts in the shape of hearts every now and then. "Give 'em a show", Eskalade had said. And show she gave them.

Hayato walked behind Tear, slightly annoyed with the idol's showboating. His golden headband reflected the light in all manner of colors, and his sword, the Mist Cutter, rested at his side.

Liuva brought up the rear, her half-skirt fluttered as she walked. Funnily enough, her arm cannons were nowhere to be found. Yuuki had always wondered where they disappeared to, since they seemed such a hassle to take off and put on repeatedly.

The group of six marched into the temple, and the door shut behind them. There was the collective sigh of relief from all present individuals.

Tear heaved the biggest sigh of them all, and her outfit disappeared in a flash of light, to be replaced with her usual Nova garments. The rest of the group made various adjustments to their weapons or checks on their accessories.

The inner circle of the Alliance was there to greet them; it was a fairly large group, but Yuuki could at least pick out Neinheart, Claudine, Kyle…

"…Sugar!" The warrior exclaimed. "Tess, Olive, Rondo!"

The warrior ran over to his friends.

"What are you guys doing here?" Yuuki asked.

"What a stupid question." Answered Olive. "We're here to see you guys off, what else?"

"Yuuki, savior of Maple World, goes on a big mission without us!" Rondo scoffed. "Next time, I swear, I'm stealing the spotlight from you."

Tess laughed. "No way! It's my turn next!"

"U-um, actually I think it's my turn!" Sugar piped up.

The group began to share jokes and stories of their adventures and misadventures since the last time they met up. Yuuki felt glad he had answered the goddess the way he had; there was nothing he cherished more in the world than his friends.

"Hey…" Tess spoke up. "We should give you a buff. For old time's sake."

Olive and Rondo nodded. Rondo cast first, followed by Olive, then Tess. Finally, Sugar raised her hand and cast Bless on the whole party.

"There." Said Sugar. "We'll always be with you, Yuuki. Even in the darkest of times, we'll be there."

"I know." Said Yuuki. "The same goes for me."

* * *

Aran grinned as she saw two familiar figures who were chatting in a corner of the temple's foyer. She quickly approached the duo.

"Careful, Shade." She said as she came into hearing range of the two. "Say the wrong thing and you'll be doing a thousand sit-ups."

Lilin glared at the legendary warrior with cold, blue eyes. "Would you like to do a thousand sit-ups, hero?"

Aran tugged at her collar and gulped slightly. Shade chuckled.

"I was just describing the benefit of my meditations in Mu Lung." the forgotten hero quipped. "It sounds like you don't want a vacation."

"I was planning a vacation at this cool place Kinesis told me about, called 'Diz Knee Land' or something like that." The warrior answered smugly. "Shame a certain someone has a problem traveling between dimensions."

Shade's face read blatant annoyance, while Aran cackled at her own sense of humor. Lilin simply raised an eyebrow in ignorance.

The hero's laughter died down, and she turned to face Lilin. The blue-haired girl closed her eyes.

"You shouldn't slack on your training, Aran, you'll grow weak." Lilin paused for a moment. "And…you need to be ready to face whatever might be in there. I have faith in you, Aran."

"Fiiiiine…" Aran grinned before turning to Shade. Her grin receded into a warm smile. "And I can't exactly forget about you either, Shade. You need to get stronger too, to break that silly curse of yours so you can come along next time."

"Yeah." Shade smiled back. "You can count on that."

* * *

The two Nova teens embraced when they found each other. Tear was the first to break away.

"Sheesh…" She grumbled. "Why does Neinheart have to be such a stick in the mud? I wanted you to come along."

"Can't say I didn't want to go." The Kaiser grinned sheepishly. "But it's not like it's the end of the world or anything." The Nova boy paused and frowned. "Well, not like it's the end of the world again, I mean. Probably."

"I'll be fine!" Tear declared proudly. "And I'll kick some Black Mage butt for you, how's that?"

Kyle grinned. "Then I'll have to kill twice as many Spectors to make up for you being gone."

"You're on!"

* * *

Hayato had expected to encounter Kanna, given her dealings with the Alliance, or maybe a letter from Princess Sakuno. What he did not expect to find was the rifle-toting Ayame.

The sniper in question scoffed as the samurai approached.

"You look disappointed, Falcon, were you perhaps expecting someone else? A girlfriend?"

Hayato closed his eyes in an act of smugness. "You've picked up some terrible traits in this world, honestly. She is not my girlfriend." The samurai blinked for a second as his mind caught up with his mouth. "W-wait, no, I mean…that came out wrong!"

Ayame let out a laugh. "Please, I was just making fun of you a little. I know you're way too serious to actually get a girlfriend at all."

Hayato tried to sneer, but it came out more as a pout.

Ayame's laughter died down and she faced the Bladed Falcon. "Seriously, though…" She leaned towards the samurai with a light glare. "I have a princess to protect. Don't expect me to come save you this time, Falcon."

"I am a warrior bound to serve the princess." Hayato nodded slightly. "Failure would be dishonorable."

* * *

"Liuva…" Claudine started. "…you're here representing the Resistance in this mission."

"Yup." The blaster responded.

"So I expect you to perform at your absolute best."

"Righto."

"As well as showing up that snobby half-glasses."

"Well, duh."

The leader of the Resistance nodded, and then turned to her cyborg childhood friend. The two stared at each other for a minute.

"Claudine…" Xenon started. "I…"

"Hold up." Liuva interrupted. "Wait just a second here. As much as I would love to listen to your stupid, sappy feelings and watch the absolute soap opera that is your love life, Claudine…"

"Hey! I don't-"

"…I'm actually going to move off and find something a little less hormonal. Later 'doc!"

And with that, the blaster disappeared into the crowd. Claudine made a mental note to stuff the leftover Nependeath honey into Liuva's spare gauntlets.

The thief sighed. "Sorry, what were you going to say, Xenon?"

The cyborg paused, and then chuckled.

"Nothing…" He responded. "Just that…I feel much more human around you. Your appearance is what triggered my first few memories, and now I have so many more. I just wanted to thank you, Claudine."

Claudine smiled. "Yeah…good luck out there, old friend."

* * *

"Your attention please!" Neinheart shouted over the crowd. "Attention, please!"

Everyone present turned to Neinheart, who stood dead center in the temple foyer. Behind him was the dramatic scene of the Gate to the Present; the very portal the group of explorers would be walking through any minute now. To Neinheart's right stood a Cygnus knight, who held some indeterminate item in his hands. To Neinheart's left stood the temple's head priest, presiding over the area.

As soon as he had everyone's attention, the tactician addressed the crowd.

"I'll keep this brief: We are sending six of our own to explore something that is undoubtedly fraught with danger. But…I have faith that they will do well, and everyone here should share that faith if you truly consider these people to be your friends."

The crowd was silent. The group of six stepped forward, as did the knight on Neinheart's right. The knight held out the item in his hands; a pile of small bags, each about the size of a watermelon.

"These are bags of holding." Neinheart explained. "A notable item in of itself; capable of storing items in extra-dimensional space. Contained within these bags are your basic provisions; food, water, potions, and the like. There is also additional equipment that serve a variety of purposes. A fairly basic inventory for this mission."

The knight distributed the bags to each of the party members.

"I said I'll keep this brief so I will." Said Neinheart. "Good luck." And with that, he walked off to the side.

The party stood directly in front of the swirling portal. Yuuki could feel a chilly draft coming from beyond the votex; not cold like El Nath, more like the chill of morning. The warrior's thoughts were interrupted, however, by a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see the head temple keeper, looking a touch worried.

"Young hero…" The temple keeper began. "Do you remember the last time you came here, you met with that poor lost soul; the one who had amnesia?" Yuuki nodded.

"Kao." He said. The amnesiac temple keeper, who was the spitting image of Yuuki himself. "What of him?"

"I…he…" The head keeper took a deep breath. "A short while ago, he entered the portal alone. I should have watched him closer…I think he went in search of his memories." The keeper looked downtrodden at the floor.

Yuuki nodded in understanding. "I'll bring him back, don't worry."

The head keeper nodded back, fixed his glasses, and stood back off to the side.

Yuuki glanced at his teammates. His teammates glanced back at him, and at each other. Finally, six pairs of eyes rested on the door ahead.

"Let's go." Yuuki commanded.

And the group stepped forward.


	9. The town on the lake

"I told you it was a lake!" Tear giggled smugly. "I told you!"

"Ugh, yes, we know." Groaned Liuva. "And this is, what, the fifth time you've 'told us so'? So stop telling us so."

"I'm just saying- "

"Well stop just saying!" Liuva kicked a small piece of rubble, which quickly turned to dust a few feet away. "We get it, it's a lake. Frigging neat."

The group had stared in awe when they first arrived; beyond the portal within the Door was a vast beach, possibly miles long and wide, next to a deep lake. The sky was black like night, and twinkled with stars colored green and teal. Within the expanse of the beach sat structures which Yuuki noted seemed to have come from every known dimension; there were temples of Grandis, sky scrapers of Earth, mushroom houses of Maple World…each structure appeared to be decaying; crumbling into the very sand they walked upon. Beyond the sunken structures stood a great cliff in the distance, which seemed to dance and flicker with a light blue flame.

Quite some distance ahead of them sat the steady lights of what could only be called a town. An oasis of life and lights in the middle of a blue-white world of utter silence, save for a small wind whistling along the path the party walked. Each of the party members, admittedly, found it bizarrely creepy. But Yuuki also had to admit the place had a certain beauty to it; an almost eerie stillness that nothing in Maple World or Grandis or Earth could ever hope to have. Assuming they ever wanted to, that is.

"Well…" Yuuki started. "At least we won't run out of water, I guess."

"I don't know…" Hayato stopped walking and stared out over the lake. The water reflected a silvery-blue, almost like a moon was shining down upon it, but this place lacked any such heavenly body. "This water…it gives off a bad aura."

Aran stared out over the lake. "It gives me the creeps too. I vote we don't touch it…for now, at least."

Yuuki glanced wearily over the water. The stars reflected and shimmered in the lake's surface. The group pressed onward.

"What do you suppose this place is?" Asked Aran. "Are we in another world?"

"Perhaps…between worlds?" Asked Xenon. "That would explain the multiple structures from other worlds."

"Maybe this is like some kind of drain." Yuuki speculated. "Pieces of the worlds fell here or something, like the bottom of a tank in a filter."

"But then what caused the pieces to fall?" Asked Liuva. "And what was being 'filtered'?"

There was a small pause.

Tear shuddered. "All I know is that this place is weird. I haven't even heard Eskalade say anything recently…"

* * *

The group finally began to approach the village, which at this point was definitely looking like a village. They could even see figures; they were cloaked and hooded and of varying sizes, but definitely people...of some kind. All of them were facing towards the center of town, away from the group. Yuuki approached the nearest one.

"Um…hi!" The warrior started. "My name's Yuuki…can you tell us where we are?"

The figure said nothing, and did not react.

"E-excuse me? Sir? O-or ma'am?" Yuuki tapped the figure on the shoulder.

The tap elicited a reaction at last; the figure turned to face the group.

Tear gasped in shock and immediately latched onto Hayato in a vice-like grip. The samurai at first started to shoo away the annoying Nova girl, but stopped his efforts when he saw the figure's features- or lack thereof.

It had no face. Where a face should have been was a solid blue…something, clouded with streaks of white that formed patterns like clouds. It was like looking into a slab of lapis lazuli.

"You…" The figure seemed to wail in a voice that sounded like a loud whispering. "…it is you…"

Several more figures turned around. Each possessed the same crystal-like face the first had, though they all came in different shapes and sizes. All of them faced towards Yuuki.

"Why…are you here…again…?" One whispered.

"You are…him…" Another wailed. "No…you are like him…"

"Memories…all gone…" A third's voice was carried on the wind.

"Okay…" Liuva stepped back slightly. "I'm officially creeped out now."

"Wh…what are they?" Tear asked, shaking a bit. "Are they…people?"

"My optical sensors are receiving strange readings." Xenon said, as he processed the information. "I cannot determine their species."

"What do they want with Yuuki, then?" Aran held her arm slightly behind her, readying to draw Maha if needed.

The warrior in question gulped, but held firm.

"We're…we are explorers from Maple World…can you help us?"

The whispering throughout the crowd continued, but none of the figures answered the question.

Finally, one of the figures walked through the crowd. He seemed to almost glide on a trail of the blue sand, thanks to his cloak, but the gentle crunch of sand beneath feet could be heard. The new figure stopped directly in front of the party; it seemed to look them over slightly before turning to the crowd and raising a hand.

"He is not him. You will get nowhere crowding these people like this. Return to your duties." He spoke in a clear voice, unlike the whispers of the group. It seemed significantly more human; distinctly male, adult, and wise.

The crowd's whispers spiked, then dropped off. Slowly and as if without purpose or reason, the figures drifted back to their original positions and activities.

The remaining figure- the one who had spoken up- turned to the group of explorers and gave an eyeless stare. The party stared back, their expressions varying.

"Would you consider it rude…" Hayato said, with a hardened gaze on his face. "…if we were to ask your name?"

The figure didn't seem surprised, if the party could even read his emotions. Yuuki could almost imagine the expression he was making plastered on his…face, the warrior supposed it was.

"You must have many questions." The figure seemed close his nonexistent eyes. "And I have so few answers to give."

The imaginary eyes opened. "I am…Legato. I am the chief of this town."

"Well…thank you for allowing us to enter your town." Said Aran, who had relaxed out of her battle stance. "What is this place called, then?"

"'Called'?" The figure now known as Legato seemed almost wistful. "You mean…a name? I do not know it, no one does."

"How does no one know the name of this place?" Asked Hayato, incredulously.

"Perhaps we forgot…" Legato mused. "Perhaps it never had one to begin with." He straightened slightly. "You all should come with me…there is something I must show you."

He faced Yuuki. "And someone you must speak with."


	10. The Tree of Memories

As Legato lead the party of six through town, Hayato made note of the structures. A hodgepodge of buildings half-sunken in the sand; most of them had holes in their roofs. He half-wondered if this place even had weather to make the holes a problem.

The village chief led the party of explorers to the dead center of the town, and then stopped before a large, dead, bleached-white tree. Standing directly in front of them was a humanoid figure wearing the familiar robes of a monk from the Temple of Time, facing away from them and staring at the tree.

Yuuki stepped forward towards the figure with a look of surprise on his face. There was a brief moment of silence.

"Kao…" Yuuki finally said. The figure turned around.

Hayato couldn't see their face, as their hood concealed most of their features, but the figure was definitely human. He could see the outline of a chin and a mouth, though the robe hid their eyes and any other identifying features.

"Yuuki…" Kao responded. Hayato was surprised at how similar the two sounded.

"What are you doing here?" The hero warrior asked. "The head priest is worried, you know."

"Ah." Kao replied. "I didn't mean to make him worry…I just- "

"You went to find your memories, didn't you?" Yuuki frowned. Kao nodded in response.

"If I may interrupt…" Legato spoke up. "…I sympathize with your predicament, traveler, but there is the matter of what happened…"

Kao hung his head. "It's my fault…I don't know how it happened, but I hurt the villagers here."

"What's done is done." Said Legato. "Please, tell them."

"Very well." Kao sighed and turned to the group. "There's something I have to warn you about. Have you seen the huge lake at the outskirts of town?"

"Big, sparkling, ominous…" Liuva rattled off. "…kind of hard to miss it."

"The townspeople call it the 'Lake of Oblivion'." Kao continued. "If you fall in, you'll forget everything. Every last memory."

The group jumped back in shock.

"…guess it's a good thing we didn't fill any water bottles then." Said Aran, failing miserably in trying to lighten the mood.

Yuuki, however, seemed more concerned. "Kao…you don't think…"

Kao scratched a non-existent itch on his arm. "I don't know. Maybe. I wanted to know."

Kao motioned to the dead tree behind him. "The lake is why the Tree of Memories was created. Precious memories are hung on this tree. The townspeople come by to look at them every day until the memories wither and vanish."

He sighed again. "I…thought there might be something from my past up there. I wanted there to be something up there. So I looked…but when I got closer…when I touched the tree…"

Kao hung his head. "All those memories…the precious memories of the townspeople…they all scattered."

"Scattered?" Asked Tear. "What do you mean?"

"The memories…they were scattered around town." Legato clarified. "But they were gobbled up by the powerful Erdas."

"I see…" Yuuki blinked. "W-wait, did you just say 'Erdas'?"

Legato nodded. "Weak Erdas like us wouldn't stand a chance."

"Wait, you're an Erda?" Asked Liuva. "As in, building-blocks-of-reality living-energy 'Erda'?"

"I don't know what you mean by that…" Said Legato, he seemed to frown. "I do not remember why call ourselves Erdas. We simply do."

"Like the name of the town…" Aran mused.

"Hypothesis: It is a side effect of being near the Lake of Oblivion." Xenon stated.

Legato shook his head. "The specifics do not matter. You six are strong, please help return our memories to us."

The group exchanged glances.

"We're not exactly ones to turn down someone in need." Said Yuuki. "Of course we'll help."

Legato seemed to smile. "Thank you, dearly. Here, I shall show you to the outskirts of town, where the more powerful Erdas reside." With that, Legato began moving forward, around the tree, towards the edge of the village. The party followed, and Kao remained behind, staring sadly at the empty tree.

"There are four kinds of memories kept on the tree. There are happy memories; times we remember fondly. There are angry memories; times we felt rage burn within us. There are sad memories; times we were faced with great hardship and loss. And finally there are joyful memories; times when our souls are completely content."

"Why would you hang sad and angry memories on the tree?" Asked Tear. "Aren't those bad things?"

"Negative emotions are important to have, little one." Said Legato. "To forget anger would be to forget joy alongside it; you cannot have one without the other."

The group finally reached the outskirts of the village and moved atop a dune of sand. Legato stopped, and the group looked across the expanse. The beach seemed to stretch on for miles in any given direction. The half-buried, half-dissolving structures still littered the landscape, this time with streetlamps which seemed to be melted and bent out of shape. The group could see movement among the sand.

The group- or rather mostly Tear- gasped in shock. A large, dark blue ball bounced out from behind one of the dunes. It was about the size of a person, and had a single, white horn reminiscent of the Tree of Memories stuck on its head. The front side appeared to have a circle imprinted on it.

"The powerful Erdas find themselves attracted to specific types of emotions." Legato explained. "As such, there is one for each kind of memory. This one is attracted to happy memories."

"A happy Erda…" Yuuki mused.

"It looks kind of…cuddly." Tear commented.

"I would not try 'cuddling' with it." Said the chief. "You might wind up its dinner."

"…does it even have a mouth?" Asked Hayato.

"It is actually quite powerful." Legato continued. "In terms of physical strength, that is. It is rather…lacking in intelligence."

"Big, strong, stupid." Said Liuva. She slammed a fist into her palm, both of her hands now covered by her gauntlets. "Seems simple enough." And with that, the blaster rushed forward.

"W-wait!" Legato shouted.

"Liuva, stop!" Aran stood up.

But the blaster heard none of it. She leapt off the dune and slid down the sand, expertly breaking into a sprint as she hit the bottom of the hill. Her arm cannon flared to life, the explosive tip radiating heat.

Liuva approached the creature with Olympic speed. As soon as she was within melee range, she planted her left foot in the ground in front of her and slammed her gauntlet dead center of the creature. She let loose a loud cry, and the tip of the cannon detonated.

The explosion echoed through the silent landscape, and the sand was whipped up into a whirlwind. The orange glow clashed against the pale blue of the surrounding area, and then faded into a ball of black smoke. Liuva panted as she drew her arm away. She turned to the six atop the hill, and gave a peace sign with her left gauntlet.

"Liuva!" Cried Yuuki in horror.

The blaster frowned and turned quickly to see a flash of dark blue come barreling out of the smoke towards her. Liuva bobbed to the side and, with a small hop in the air, slammed her fist into the creature a second time. The explosion was smaller, but Liuva rode the recoil backwards; backflipping through the air before skidding to a halt some distance away.

Liuva cursed under her breath; neither of her attacks had even left a scratch on the creature. Her image shimmered and faded from view as she cast Infiltrate. The Erda, seemingly confused that its attacker had suddenly disappeared, seemed to bounce around aimlessly for a few seconds before settling in the sand. Then, it hopped off in the direction away from the group.

Liuva's image rematerialized next to the group, panting.

"Huff…huff…alright…say it; that was stupid of me."

"That was stupid of you." Hayato commented. Aran gave the girl a smack upside the head for good measure.

"It was bizarre, though." Liuva said, now rubbing the back of her head. "An attack like that should have at least knocked that thing back a little. Yet it didn't budge at all."

"Correct." Said Xenon. "The first attack, by my sensors, equated to approximately 3.3 megajoules, and the second to approximately 5 kilojoules."

"I only got a C- in physics…" Said Yuuki. "…but I'm guessing that's a lot."

"Some kind of magic?" Asked Aran. "A barrier?"

"Unless the creature's reaction time was within nanoseconds- and it did not appear to be anything close to such- there should have been no time to prepare for that attack." Continued Xenon. "It should have been knocked back, barrier or no barrier."

"There's something worse…" Tear said, abnormally pale. "I can't talk to Eskalade…like, at all."


	11. A new power

"What do you mean you can't talk to him?" Yuuki asked, worry creeping into his voice.

"I-I mean I can't talk to him!" Tear rubbed her hand through her hair. "Usually I can talk with him if I focus, and now I can't!"

"That's it?" Liuva grumbled. "Pervy dragon isn't talking, big whoop."

Tear glared angrily at the blaster.

"'Big whoop'?" She spat. "Of course it's 'big whoop'! I can't fight like this!"

"Sucks to be you, then." Liuva snarled back.

"Let's take off those big robot arms of yours, see how hard you punch without them!"

"At least I can-"

"ENOUGH!" Yuuki thundered. "Neinheart made me the leader of this team and I am not going to see it fall apart on the first day because of some petty squabbling, do I make myself absolutely clear?"

The outburst caused the group to go silent for a moment.

"…sorry I made fun of you." Mumbled Liuva.

"…sorry I yelled." Tear replied.

"Great, we're all made up." Yuuki tapped his foot angrily. He sighed and turned to Legato.

"I'm sorry we weren't able to help immediately. Could you give us some time to get out bearings?"

The chief nodded. "I understand completely. As long as you help us, I am eternally grateful."

And with that, the chief walked away, leaving the six explorers to themselves.

"Sorry I have to do this, Liuva…" Aran said, breaking the silence. "…but I gotta side with Tear here. We have a problem…a big one. Tear can't get ahold of Eskalade, and I can't sense Maha."

The blaster said nothing, and simply stared at the ground. Yuuki rubbed his temples.

"Ok, so let's run through what's happening here…" The warrior said. "We have two people down for the count because they can't tap into their main sources of power."

"Add on to that…" Hayato continued. "Our normal attacks are being deflected, or somehow weakened."

"Possibly outright blocked." Xenon added.

Yuuki sighed again. "What a _wonderful_ start to this mission, really. Well, let's start sorting through what Neinheart gave us."

The tension as thick as mushroom stew, the group began to sort through the equipment the strategist had stowed in the bags of holding. Their inventory for the mission, along with basic food and water supplies, included a set of six tents, blankets, tools of varying kinds, and some kind of smooth, black object that looked similar to the smart phones Yuuki had seen on Earth.

"…it's a communications tablet." Liuva explained, still avoiding the gaze of the Angelic Buster. "Checky designed modified some designs he got from the Other World; it should let you talk to the receiving tablet."

"Neinheart did mention sending consistent reports." Xenon clarified.

"That sounds like something he'd say, yeah."

Liuva glanced up at the orange-haired Nova. Tear met her gaze briefly, but turned back to focusing on her bag. The idol nonchalantly pulled out a rue-powered lantern, a set of flint and steel, a toothbrush…

"Wait!" Yuuki gripped her hand as she held up an irregular-shaped, orange stone. Yuuki reached into his bag and pulled out an almost-identical blue stone.

"Ah." Aran let out a small sound. She then reached into her bag and pulled out the purple triplet of the previous two stones.

The group of six formed a circle around the stones. They didn't seem to be glowing, or to be all that special.

"The goddesses did say these would be needed, correct?" Asked Hayato.

"D-do you think this is why?" Asked Tear. "Because our powers wouldn't work here?"

"I'd bet my money on it." Said Aran. "Hell, I'd bet Phantom's money on it."

"Then how do we use them?" Asked Liuva. "They didn't exactly come with instruction manuals, right?"

Yuuki hesitated for a second.

"Liuva, put your hand on Maple World's stone." He finally said. The blaster did as she was told. "Xenon, you do the same with the Grandis stone, and Hayato you do the same with the Tynerum stone."

The group did as they were told. Yuuki took a deep breath.

"Now…touch!"

The group pushed the tips of the stones together. They hit one another with a small "tink" noise, but otherwise did nothing.

"Well…" Said Hayato. "That was pointlessly dramatic and disappointing."

"Maybe we need a magic word?" Liuva asked sarcastically. "Abra-kadabra, alakazam, increase our powers with a 'bam'!"

"This isn't working…" Grumbled Aran. "Maybe if we-"

There was a small spark of light where the stones met, and suddenly a loud "bam" echoed across the landscape.

Yuuki coughed and waved fruitlessly at the smoke surrounding him.

"Is everyone okay?" He called out. "Sound off!"

Six independent voices groaned and mumbled responses.

"No system damage." Xenon reported. "Running basic diagnostic…"

"Owie…" Tear complained.

"Ugh…even my teeth are vibrating…" Liuva clutched at her head. "I was just joking about the 'bam', seriously…"

The dust began to settle and in the center of the former explosion was a floating sphere, about the size of a baseball, that glowed with a pale light. The sphere began to glow brighter, and Yuuki could have sworn he saw the others in the party glow as well, until the group had to avert their eyes.

The light died down, and the stone was gone.

No one spoke a word for a solid minute.

"That…" Hayato said, breaking the silence. "…was the absolute _weirdest_ thing I have ever seen since I have come to this world, and that is saying something."

"Is the exploding and the glowing over now?" Asked Tear. "Or do we have more magic rocks in our pockets ready to blow up?"

"Sadly, no magic rocks here." Said a new voice.

Tear blinked, then broke into a grin. "Eskalade!"

"Who else?" The dragon said, materializing in front of the group.

"You're back!" Tear exclaimed, her eyes watering slightly. "Where were you, I was worried!"

"I never left." He explained. His face contorted into a frown, which was an odd look for a dragon period, let alone Eskalade. "I could get ahold of you, it was like some kind of giant glass wall that cut off our link…"

Aran closed her eyes for a second, then opened them. "Maha's back too, though he seems to have been asleep through the whole thing."

"Diagnostic complete. Error found." Xenon announced mechanically before frowning. "Yuuki…I appear to have developed a new readout on my sensor…"

"New…readout?"

"My sensors are now capable of detecting a form of energy they were not previously calibrated to detect." He looked at his hands, then around the group, then back at his hands. "I believe I have an explanation for our apparent weakening."

"Does it have to do with this 'new energy' you've found?" Asked Hayato.

The cyborg nodded. "Chief Legato described the townspeople and the creatures here as 'Erdas'. I believe this area is made up of Erdas energy. Hence, a normal attack had little effect on the creature."

Xenon held out his arm and examined it. "But the goddesses gifted us the ability to manipulate the Erdas Flow. Those stones were their gift. It has apparently manifested, in my case, as an energy readout to my normal sensor output; a measurement my system has reformatted to read as 'Arcane Power'."

"Arcane power?" Yuuki seemed confused.

"As a current estimate…" He continued. "…my sensors indicate that we, individually, currently possess approximately '30'. Units: unknown. Sense of scale: unknown. Method of training: unknown."

"I can feel something…" Hayato closed his eyes and concentrated. "I feel…stronger. Less weighed down."

"That's nice and all, but we're completely in the dark." Aran pointed out. "We don't know if 30-whatever is 'normal' for humans..."

"And Nova!" Tear chimed in.

"…For all we know, that Erda might have been at 250 or something."

"Oh no, there's definitely something new there." Said Eskalade. "I can feel it. Alongside my power. Great, untapped potential just begging to be released. You guys just touched a couple rocks together and unleashed a great power within you; lucky you guys."

"Still though, how 'great' are we talking? And how can we release it?" Aran sighed. "We should have brought along a mage…I'm not used to things you can't train by sparring or meditating."

"Having Xenon be able to read it is awfully convenient, though…" Liuva muttered.

"What'd you say, Liuva?" Yuuki asked.

"Eh, nothing, nevermind."

"Well kid, you're the leader." Aran said as she crossed her arms. "What do we do now?"

Yuuki hesitated for a moment. With Xenon's ability to read their new power in units they might have a strategic advantage, but that would be assuming his ability even worked on the creatures. Eskalade did say they were stronger than before, but were they strong enough?

"We might not be strong enough to fight just yet…" Yuuki cracked his knuckles in preparation. "But we'll need to check either way. Let's go hunting."

This was met with a series of confident nods and grins. The warrior proudly took a few steps in the direction the creature had run off previously before he felt something underfoot. He bent down and dug out of the sand a- now very dirty- toothbrush.

"Er…actually, let's pick up after ourselves first, and then let's go hunting."

The group grumbled unintelligibly in agreement.


	12. Fighting Happy

Having gathered their belongings, the group trudged silently across the sand dunes outside of the town. Occasionally, Liuva or Tear would steal glares at each other, while the other one would look away. Since Liuva hung at the back of the group and Tear more towards the front, this left a very awkward Hayato, Yuuki, and Aran in the middle. Xenon, lucky him, marched up front to get a read on any visible sources of Arcane Power.

Finally, Yuuki had had enough of it, and so he held back until he was walking with the blaster, at which point he dug in.

"Okay, what, if anything, is your problem?"

"Problem?" The girl leveled a slight sneer at the warrior, but was clearly making an effort to be polite. "What problem?"

"This." The warrior gestured up and down. "Attitude. Why were you so confrontational with Tear? What set you off? Is something wrong?"

Liuva growled. "I apologized, didn't I? Just drop it."

"Not until you tell me why you're wound tighter than a Red Robo, I won't."

"I said drop it, okay?!" She snapped. "We're getting those memories back and we can't do that by talking about feelings all the time. Let's just get to work. Drop. It."

And with that, she stomped off in a huff. Yuuki paused for a minute before shaking his head, and catching up with the group.

* * *

After a minute of marching, Xenon gave a signal to halt. He pointed to a small hill directly in front of them.

"There is a large concentration of Arcane Power beyond this dune." The cyborg announced.

"Lots of small ones or one big one?" Aran asked. Xenon concentrated.

"It is difficult to tell the exact level of power…" He stated. "…but there appears to be multiple sources, so I would guess the former."

The group collectively took a deep breath, and crept up the dune. Tear was the first to peek out over the top, and let out a small gasp. Down in a small valley sat a group of about thirty of the creatures they had seen before. The group took in the scene before them.

"They don't seem to be…doing much…" Hayato commented.

The creatures didn't do much at all. They simply sat there. Occasionally, one jumped, but only once, and never the same creature twice in a row.

"Are they…asleep?" Asked Tear. "Is this like some kind of nest?"

"If they are, we don't want to wake them up." Aran said. "So Liuva, no charging in this time, eh?"

The hero paused and waited for a response, even an unintelligible grumble, but got nothing.

"Liuva?" Aran turned around to find Liuva staring in horror at something in the opposite direction. She followed the line of sight and her eyes widened in shock. Behind them sat a lone Happy Erda; apparently, it had snuck up on them when they were concentrated on the valley.

"Oh-ho-ho-kay…" Tear mumbled. "Nice…Erda…nice _happy_ Erda…"

The creature just sort of squished in and out of itself like a stress ball.

"Xenon…" Yuuki hissed. "What's the power level at?"

"Th-thirty…" The cyborg answered worriedly.

"Okay…" Said Aran. "…but we still don't know if we're evenly matched or if that thing has a higher defense or something…"

The hero glanced at Liuva, but the blaster was too busy contemplating her earlier lesson of not rushing fist-first into battle. The honor of recklessness this time went to Hayato.

The samurai's eyes shut, and he gripped his sword tightly. In a flash faster than any normal person could see, he drew his sword from its sheath and rushed towards the creature. There was the sound of metal tearing across earth as the Falcon's blade struck diagonally across the creature. With a grunt, Hayato cleaved his sword straight through the creature, which made an indecipherable noise before dissolving into the same white sand all around them. Hayato sheathed his blade.

The remaining five sat on the dune, mouths wide in shock. Hayato smirked.

"Even footing this time around." He said to his comrades. "You may, er, blast away if you wish, Liuva."

The girl flushed slightly at the comment, but drew up her arms, now covered by her gauntlets. Yuuki still wondered where they appeared from, but ignored the feeling and drew his sword. Tear's Soul Shooter materialized on her arm, while Aran drew Maha and Xenon his whip blade. Yuuki nodded his head towards the herd in the valley and moved his finger across his throat, before leaping down the hill and sliding through the sand, the rest of the group following behind.

Yuuki slashed at the first creature he came across. His blade met some resistance, possibly due to being a heavier weapon than the Samurai's katana, but still cut clean through. The creature dissolved into silver sand, just as the first one did. He turned towards his teammates; each held their ground well against the creatures.

Liuva launched an explosive punch at a nearby group, then followed up by slamming one of her gauntlets into the ground. The gauntlet gave a whir, and the ground underneath erupted in arcs of electricity, which connected with the creatures. The lightning seemed to curl and bow around the girl as she pulverized each of her nearby creatures into dust.

Aran swung and twirled Maha with ease. The hero quickly turned the polearm's blade, which glowed a cold blue as she held it, toward the ground and brought it down with a mighty slam. Jagged spikes of ice quickly jutted up from the sand, impaling the poor Erdas and sending them to a chilly demise.

Xenon took a more methodological approach; not wasting energy on particularly strong attacks with each strike carefully tailored to kill without wasting energy. His blade painted the air with a blue-green afterimage, framed by silver dust.

Hayato slashed at each of his creatures with skills formed through meticulous training; poised, accurate, and deadly. His style left a similar afterimage to Xenon, but his blade made longer, more sweeping arcs than the cyborg, which left the air around him a shimmering sea of deadly crescent moons.

As if in direct contrast to the others and her superhero identity, Tear simply slaughted the poor creatures. Pink energy morphed itself into a giant hammer, which she slammed into the ground on top of several Erdas, before the hammer dissolved and was replaced with several floating swords, which the idol brought down onto her next set of victims. The girl giggled and laughed as each attack met their mark.

Yuuki made a final dash to the last group of five. His sword flashed gold and red, in contrast to the blue and black it normally was, and the warrior leapt into the air, sword above his head. A glowing orb of red concentrated at the tip of the blade, swirling and growing larger. Giving a loud cry, Yuuki slammed the sword into the ground. When the orb of red contacted the ground, it exploded. A column of red energy erupted from the ground and consumed the last of the creatures, whose dust rose up on the current as the red flames licked themselves around their master. The energy faded away.

The landscape was again silent.

Yuuki then noticed a small, yellow orb that appeared to be attached to a string in the aftermath of his attack. He reached for it, and the moment the orb touched his skin, he felt a rush of emotion. It felt like watching a funny movie, or eating his favorite food, or doing both of those things and having cookies for dessert. He immediately let go, before proceeding to grab the bobble by its string, letting it dangle before him. He whistled for his teammates and held up the orb so they could see.

"I'm going to hazard a guess and say this is a memory." He said. "Try to pick it up by the string so you don't…get distracted." The rest of the group nodded and began combing their battlefield for more of the trinkets. Aran hovered near Yuuki for a minute.

"Aren't you worried some of them broke during the fighting, or something?" She asked. Yuuki gave her a look.

"How often do the things we collect from monsters break when we kill them?"

Aran hesitated. "Well, there was this time with Mercedes and her fancy cups…but I see your point."

The warriors nodded at each other, and continued combing the beach for lost memories.


	13. Split up and explore

The group was making a lot more progress than Yuuki had originally anticipated. Maybe it was the newfound confidence in their strength, maybe it was the fact that there was six of them and not just one, or maybe he had just been worried for no reason before. Regardless, they were making short work of the Erdas.

The warrior stood back and observed their handiwork, which was currently manifesting in the form of Tear smacking Erdas with her hammer and Hayato slicing them into tiny pieces, both with relative ease. Occasionally, one of the team members would bend over to pick up one of the lost memories of the villagers.

Yuuki felt someone tap on his shoulder, and turned to find Aran standing over him. He shrugged listlessly a bit and turned back to the slaughter of the nearby monsters.

"We'll be done pretty soon, don't you think?" He asked, nonchalantly.

Aran shrugged back. "Barely a warm-up, really." She pointed over at the figure of Liuva, who was simply standing in the middle of a crowd of Erdas, staring off at nothing. "Idiot picked up a sad memory by the ball. You really need to deal with whatever the hell is wrong with her."

"I thought I was team leader, not team counselor." Yuuki commented, drawing his sword.

"'Leader' is just a nice way of saying 'glorified babysitter', to be honest." Aran grinned. "When you're done with her, remember to set Tear down for her nap."

Yuuki simply grumbled a response and rushed off to help his teammate.

"Just deal with her before I knock her out and carry her the rest of the mission, mm'kay?" Aran called after him.

The warrior rushed forward and slashed through the Erda furthest from Liuva. The others who had been encroaching upon the girl looked up. Yuuki threw his free hand outward; a chain shot forward and latched itself onto on of the Erdas in the middle. The warrior flung forward on the chain, bringing his sword around him in an arc, striking two of the Erdas surrounding Liuva. Without a flourish, he turned and stabbed his sword into the final Erda.

He sheathed his sword, and took a look at the girl who was holding a blue orb in her outstretch hand. Her cheeks were lightly stained with teardrops. Sighing, he picked up the orb by its string and carefully lifted into his bag with the others he had gathered. Then, taking a deep breath, he gave the girl staring a thousand miles away a rather painful- albeit slightly enjoyable- slap.

"OW!" Liuva exclaimed, finally snapping out of her trance. "The hell was that for?!"

"I think Belle calls it 'waking up'." Yuuki rolled his eyes.

"D-didn't they ever tell you not to hit a girl?" Liuva's eyes narrowed.

"Nope." Yuuki idly popped the 'p' in the word. "Actually, Mai was quite intent on getting me to hit back."

"Do you have a sarcastic response to everything I say?"

"Yes, yes I do."

Liuva sighed and started grumbling something about "stupid glowy magic balls". Yuuki signaled the rest of the group over and began tallying the number of memories they collected.

"…and with this sad one Liuva found I think that's all of them." He concluded. The group nodded among themselves, and set back to the town with their haul. Liuva pulled Yuuki back a bit on the way over.

"Was…" She began, but hesitated. "…was I crying?"

"Yes." Yuuki responded. "Still not going to talk about it?"

Liuva folded her arms and stared at the sand as they walked.

"I'll force it out of you next chance I get." Yuuki leveled a glare and jogged to catch up to the front.

"Mmph…" Liuva huffed. "See that you do."

* * *

It's difficult to describe the feeling the townspeople had when a band of heroes came back with their precious memories. There was simply a frenzy of echoing voices as the Erdas clamored and bumped into each other to retrieve the colored orbs and hang them on the tree where they hung once before.

Yuuki stood off to the side, standing with Legato and Kao and smiling at the villagers' reactions and at his friends trying to deal with the swarm of Erdas.

"On behalf of this entire village, I thank you, explorer." Legato said, bowing slightly.

"Really, it was a group effort." Yuuki gestured to his teammates, who were still being overwhelmed trying to organize the villagers. The warrior frowned and turned to Kao. "I still don't understand why the memories flew off the tree in the first place."

Kao shook his head. "I don't know either. If it truly was my fault, I apologize."

Legato stepped forward. "You did nothing wrong, or nothing you think was wrong. I know not what magic caused the tree to react as it did, though I sincerely hope you find your own memories."

"Are you sure there's nothing that can help Kao?" Asked Yuuki.

Legato hesitated. "There…may be something?"

Kao perked up at this. "What is it?"

"It may just be a myth…" The chief mused.

"Believe me, I'll try anything." The amnesiac declared.

"Myth or not, let's hear it." Yuuki said.

"Legends speak of a magical spring, deep in the Extinction Zone." The chief gestured off to the mountains on the far side of the lake. "This spring holds the power to return memories. But the Extinction Zone is dangerous; the cliffs themselves are perilous enough, the flames that spew forth from the cracks will obliterate your very existence."

"That's bad." Yuuki frowned.

Kao hesitated for a moment and glanced at his doppelganger. Yuuki sighed.

"Well, we're on a mission to explore this place anyway, might as well look at absolutely everything." The warrior smiled. "And if it helps out an old friend along the way, who am I to say no?"

Kao nodded, and the two walked off to explain the situation to the others.

* * *

"You are not walking on a cliff spewing flames that erase people from existence just to find a magic pool of water." Aran said flatly.

"Oh come on!" Yuuki whined, almost childishly. "We should at least try to help Kao."

"It's the stupidest idea I've ever heard." The hero said. "It's dangerous, we have no idea what we'll find up there. Not to mention 'magic springs' are a dime a dozen back in Maple World…"

"Aran…" Yuuki leveled a glare at the woman.

"I mean if Mercedes literally has one in her front yard…!"

"You know that's not what I meant!" Yuuki snapped, then sighed. "Look, chief Legato has said that the cliff paths are stable and wide, and he's willing to speak with the boat keeper to ferry us across the lake whenever we want. Half-glasses wants us to report everything anyway and Kao deserves to have his memories, it's a win-win."

"The situation seems optimal for exploration." Xenon commented. "We have also heard word of a cave, which leads to a large waterfall at the end of the river. We ought to investigate that as well."

Tear nodded.

"I disagree." Said Hayato. "We were already surprised once by the strength of the monsters here. We should be taking every precaution."

Tear nodded again.

Yuuki sighed and started pacing a bit. He stopped mid-stride.

"Okay, how about this…" He started. "Me, Kao, and Liuva head to the Extinction zone to find this magic spring. The rest of you check in with Neinheart and give him a full report on what we know so far. We'll take some of the walkie-talkies with us and keep in constant contact, Liuva and I can watch each other's back, and we'll check in every half-hour with updates. Then we'll meet back here and explore this waterfall."

Liuva frowned. "Why me?"

"Because you're strong, mobile, and you know how to signal for help with the Resistance technology if we get into any serious trouble." Yuuki explained.

"And…" He added, leaning over to whisper into her ear. "…because I still have to deal with your stupid angsty mood swings and trust me, you'd rather have me pestering you than Aran forcing it out of you with Maha at your neck."

Liuva glowered at him. "Fine, but I'll remember this."

Aran hesitated for a second. "I don't know, honestly…"

"If I may?" Xenon interrupted. "I agree with Yuuki; a smaller party would be better for exploring terrain with limited movement paths, and our mission here is to explore this area as much as possible. We knew it would be dangerous; everything we do in our line of work has some aspect of danger. But, for further safety precautions, I can adjust some of our gear to detect the new Arcane Force, in case we run into any new monsters. Yuuki, am I correct that your…smartphone, was it…from Earth, it has a camera, correct?"

Yuuki nodded and produced the small device from an unknown pocket. Xenon snatched the device and began tinkering with the casing.

"It shouldn't take me more than an hour to complete the modifications. I can work on devices for the others later while you two are away."

Aran sighed. "Well, if we're actually going through with this, can we eat first maybe?"

Tear nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Yeah! I'm starved! What's for lunch?"

Hayato fumbled through his bag.

"Ham sandwiches." The samurai announced rather plainly.

Tear sighed in disappointment.


	14. Issue resolved

Liuva was thinking about how many weird vehicles there were in Maple World. Like, why does the airship in Edelstein have a giant wind-up key in it? And why do the Cygnus Knight airships have oars if they fly through the air? And where did all those subways go underneath Kerning City? These were the kinds of questions the blaster was considering when she found herself face to face with the boat-keeper, Kima, who was standing in front of an- of all things- origami paper boat that was gently bobbing on the lake. The Erda himself gave off a stoic vibe. Being completely honest, the other villagers had freaked Liuva out quite a bit, but speaking with Kima felt more awkward than anything else.

And on the other side of the girl was Kao. Liuva had bets on who Kao was; the entire Alliance did. What else was there to do when one of the leading members reports back that one of the priests in the Temple of Time looks exactly like him? The leading theories were either time travel or Kao being from Earth. Hawkeye stuck adamantly with the "long-lost twin" theory, claiming it would be "the perfect twist". Liuva had decided to take the hardest bet that it was all a giant coincidence, like in "The Prince and the Pauper"; that theory had the worst odds because weird things in Maple World rarely ever turned out to be "coincidence".

Yuuki had, mercilessly, abandoned the girl on the lakeside to complete the last-minute details before the group split up, leaving her at the epicenter of an awkward silence.

Liuva coughed. "So, uh, Kao?"

The amnesiac turned and stared at her.

"W-what do you think you're gonna do? After you get your memories back?"

The temple keeper hesitated for a second.

"I don't know." He finally said. "When I get them back, I think I'll know then."

"Heh…r-right…" The girl paused, then turned to the Erda. "W-what about you?"

The boat-keeper turned and stared at her with a faceless expression.

"Y'know…any…hobbies?"

"…I sail the boat." Kima said bluntly. "That is all."

"No kidding?"

Liuva decided that she was going to punch Yuuki for abandoning her like this. Hard.

* * *

The ride was eerily quiet, with the only sounds being the splash of the boat on the magically enchanted, fall-in-and-you'll-be-destroyed lake. The lake itself seemed to stretch on for miles, like a giant black-blue mirror embedded in the earth. Liuva's reflection stared back at her.

"You'll fall in if you lean forward too much." Yuuki announced, having abandoned his attempt at conversing with Kao.

The girl gave a listless stare back at him. Yuuki shrugged.

"Just saying…" He said as he sat down and leaned against the folded paper that made up the boat.

Liuva turned back to her reflection.

"So, spill." Yuuki said. "You. Angsty. Why?"

The girl turned back to stare at him in abject horror. "That's a bit rude to be so straightforward. Can't you use a little more tact?"

"You're telling me to use tact?" Yuuki scoffed. "Yeah, uh, okay miss 'I don't know what that thing is so I'm just going to punch it', how about no?"

Liuva huffed. "Well, it was worth a shot, I guess."

"It really, really wasn't. Now spill."

She sighed. "I was angry at Tear because I hate having to rely on others' power. I hate being unable to do anything myself. It reminds me of…something."

Yuuki looked surprised. "I was expecting some sort of lie, honestly."

"I'm Resistance, lying is part of the job description." Liuva shrugged. "The truth is a good way to mix things up every once in a while."

"You're not going to, by any chance, tell me what that 'something' you get reminded of is, are you?"

"Of course I am." She snapped. "I'm getting there, hold your tiny horses."

She took a deep breath. "Do you know why the Resistance joined the Alliance?"

"Not really." He admitted. "But then again, I'm not into politics. Enlighten me."

"Okay, well, first off, I wasn't always a blaster." Liuva tapped her fingers on the side of the boat. "I was trying to become a Battle Mage at first, because…well…wait, let me start over. I was playing hide-and-seek with my friends…"

"Truly a cunning way to master the art of infiltration."

"Hey, who's spilling their heart here? I was playing hide-and-seek- and this is before I joined the Resistance, mind you- and we were in a restricted area near the mine."

Yuuki almost made another snarky comment, but quickly shut his mouth as her tone grew serious.

"I was 'it', and everyone else was hiding. I went looking for them, found all of them except for one other kid. So I was looking and I stumbled into this cave. Only it wasn't a cave, it was…one of the Black Wing's…and I wandered in and I turned around and I saw her."

Yuuki frowned. It was well-known that the Black Wings had set up their laboratories in the Verne Mine. "You got caught?"

Liuva shook her head. "She wasn't a Black Wing, she was…one of their 'experiments'."

Yuuki's stomach did a flip, and evidently he made a face that Liuva could see.

"Yeah, it's disgusting, everyone thinks so, I know. Anyway, she said her name was 'Vita', and she warned me about the Black Wings coming, about how they would find me if I didn't leave. She said…she said I should just leave her, leave her and escape."

"You didn't." Yuuki pointed out.

"Of course I didn't!" She snapped. "That's obvious! Who would do something like that? I told her that and then I just…picked up a rock and…SMASH! No more giant test tube."

Yuuki nodded in understanding.

"Well, y'know, that got us in trouble, duh. But we were rescued by one of the Resistance members, J. He took me back to town and took Vita to the hideout- though I didn't know where it was at the time- and like literally the next day I got scouted and pulled into the Resistance."

"So you saw her again?"

Liuva nodded. "Yeah. Me and her, both of us wanted to help the Resistance. Cats hate me, and I ain't as smart as Checky, and the arm cannons hadn't been invented yet, so I tried to train as a Battle Mage. And Vita, well, she decided to share information on a super stimulant she saw the Black Wings making. I mean, I sucked at magic completely so I helped out and gathered some of the ingredients she needed and stuff, and later I delivered the stuff to J for distribution." She frowned. "Anyway, turns out it was poison."

Yuuki sat bolt upright. "Wait, what?"

"The stimulant. It turned out to be poison. At least, that's what J said the analysis turned up. That's when things started going…wrong."

"Wrong?"

"Vita…they suspected her of being a Black Wing spy. Locked her in jail for a while. I stood by her side, of course, but I understood where Claudine was coming from. And Vita was just…so sad. And a few days later, she disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"I managed to track her down to the mine, near where we first met. She was just standing there. It wasn't right. And she said stuff like 'the enemies of the Black Wings must be destroyed', and she fought us. She fought me. On Gelimer's orders"

Yuuki shifted so he was sitting cross-legged.

"Gelimer told me that she was just a puppet, he had taken control of her mind like a toy. He sent her back to his laboratory, and I followed shortly after. Gelimer…he…" She took a deep breath. "He locked her in a cage, and rigged it up to explode."

Yuuki's eyes narrowed.

"Vita told me she had a Return to Town scroll. I told her to use it. I begged her to use it. But she used it on me instead." Liuva's voiced audibly cracked slightly. "When I came back, the only thing left was rubble. All because I wasn't strong enough to save her."

The blaster turned to the warrior. "Claudine decided that after Vita, enough was enough, and that the Resistance wasn't going to sit around and let people die like she did. We accepted the invitation to the Alliance, Checky came up with the arm cannons, and here we are."

The two sat in silence for a bit.

"Well…" Yuuki finally said. "I feel about ten times better for killing that balding waste of breath, that's for sure."

"And for that, I thank you, really." Liuva snorted, although it came out more like a sniffle. "But you see why I don't like the idea of being weak. Of not being able to save others on your own."

Yuuki sighed. "Look, a lot of people have lost their friends before…"

"We weren't…friends."

"That's ridiculous. Everything you said is basically the definition of-"

Liuva pushed herself upright and stood over the warrior.

"Not! Friends!" She shouted. "Connect the dots, moron!"

Yuuki stared at the girl's face, she was visibly upset, and her eyes were red with tears. The gears finally clicked. He stood up to be on level ground with her.

"You liked her." He said.

"Ten god damn points for you, captain obvious!" Liuva wiped at her face with her sleeve. "And then your stupid girlfriend or her double or her original whatever the hell it is went and made things worse. 'Hey, remember that traumatic incident where the person you liked died? Did you care more about her or your mission to free the town you live in? Okay, thanks, bye!'"

"There was never a wrong answer, you know."

"Of course there was a wrong answer! There was a wrong answer to me!" She shouted. "You had it easy! 'Your friends or the world'- I overheard you- obviously you'd say your friends! That's stupidly obvious! It was a stupid trick question designed to make me feel guilty about answering!"

"What did you choose?"

Liuva paused.

"Vita. I chose-"

"You chose the right answer." Yuuki interrupted. "Second-guessing yourself is what's making you feel guilty, not what you chose itself. I get it, you wish things had turned out differently, but they didn't. I can't pretend to know Vita, but do you really think that she wanted you to escape just so you could pick stupid fights with your teammates and feel sorry for yourself?"

"That's so stupidly cliché."

"It's also true and you know it."

The two sat in silence for a moment.

"Do you feel better having told someone about it?" Yuuki asked.

"That's also stupidly cliché." Liuva answered. "But, yes."

"And are you going to apologize to Tear for real this time?"

"Duh."

"And are you going to stop acting like an angsty teen or is Aran going to have to throw you back through the door?"

Liuva gave an exaggerated sigh. "Yes, mister leader _sir_. No more angst, Mister Leader _sir_."

"Then issue resolved. That wasn't so hard, was it?" Yuuki put his hands behind his back. "And the next time someone needs a counselor on this mission, I'm making Aran do it."

Liuva giggled and the two watched the waves created as the boat drifted along its course.

"Liuva?"

"Yeah?"

"I have a question."

"Go for it."

"Where do you store your gauntlets when you're not using them?"


	15. Climbing the cliff

"…so, yeah, it's basically like magic, only with Checky's technology, and they just fold up in these neat little bracelets."

"Neat."

"Plus inconspicuous. 'Cause I can't exactly go walking around Edelstein wearing the things."

"Obviously."

"…we are here…"

Liuva and Yuuki both jumped a little at the Erda's voice. Yuuki looked out over the bow of the origami vessel and saw a small patch of sand jutting out from the base of the cliff. The back was round, and a good five meters in diameter, with the back of the sandbar smushed against the cliff like a melted snowball. The cliff itself seemed to stretch for miles in either direction beyond the tiny shore.

The boat beached itself on the tiny shore. As nimbly as a cat, Liuva hopped out of the boat. Yuuki barely managed to follow without tripping. Liuva stood in the sand, staring at the upper horizon of the cliff.

"It's a bit…foreboding." She muttered. "What's it like up there?"

"I do not know." Kima admitted. "I sail the boat. Sailing the boat makes me happy."

Liuva frowned at the response. She turned and elected instead to stare out over the lake, facing away from where the group had entered the door.

"What's with the fog?" She asked.

Kima turned to stare at where the girl was looking.

"That is the mist from the waterfall." He answered.

"Waterfall?" Yuuki asked, curious. He wobbled a bit to help stabilize Kao after the monk's robe had caught itself on the one of the boat's edges.

"The end of the lake." The Erda explained. "I do not go there, the currents are too strong. I would be pulled down."

"Waterfall at the end of the lake…" Yuuki mused. "I wonder what's at the bottom."

"Unless Neinheart plans to send the Lumiere through that door, let's stick with this place for now." Liuva said, going back to eying the blue rock. "I don't plan on jumping down a waterfall anytime soon."

"Agreed." Yuuki said.

"Is there anything you can tell us?" Kao asked. "Any rumors or things to watch out for?"

"Only what is commonly known." The boatkeeer answered. "The area at the top is known as the Extinction Zone, the fires which spew forth will erase your existence."

"Charming." Yuuki quipped. "Well, the chief said that most of the cliff was stable, so at least we don't have to worry about being erased without warning. Now, how do we get up there?"

Kao stared at the top of the cliff. "The normal way people get up a cliff, I suppose: climb."

"Yeah, but I was hoping I didn't have to say it." Yuuki grumbled. "I'll go first; if push comes to shove, I can use some magic and open up some holds in the rock."

Kao nodded, and Yuuki turned to Liuva.

The blaster was silent for a moment, staring at the top of the cliff. Finally, she sighed.

"Screw that." She said. She leveled her gaze at Yuuki. "Move, please."

The warrior complied, and stepped aside with a look of confusion on his face. Liuva flicked her wrists, and Yuuki finally got a good look as two rather fashionable bracelets he hadn't really paid attention to before began unfolding and expanding way beyond what seemed physically possible in a series of whirs and clicks that suggested a well-tuned machine. When the transformation was complete, Liuva's arms were covered by her gauntlets.

The blaster took a few steps backward, then broke out in a sprint towards the cliff face. She slammed one foot onto the cliff and used her momentum to carry herself up. When she reached her peak height and her foot had lost its hold, she snapped her arms behind her.

There was a loud explosion and Yuuki braced himself against the blast. Looking up through the swirl of dust, he saw Liuva high above him, the explosion having carried her nearly a quarter of the way up. She brought her arms around to her front and as she reached her peak height again, she snapped them back. The explosion repeated itself, further away from Yuuki's eardrums this time.

A few explosions later, and Yuuki watched as the girl expertly maneuvered herself forward onto the top of the cliff.

* * *

Yuuki finally reached the top, flopped over on his back, and lay there panting. He turned his head to see Liuva, who had found a comfortable position in which to nap against a large rock.

The girl cracked one eye open. "So, you're finally here."

"Screw…haah…you." Yuuki panted.

"Well, I never." She played at being hurt. "It's not my fault our fearless leader has no other way to scale a cliff."

"When we…haah…explore…huff…that waterfall…I'm shoving you off."

Liuva let out a snicker. Yuuki sat up as Kao finally pulled himself up onto the top of the cliff and collapsed in a heap between the other two.

"Hard to move in that dress, isn't it, temple-boy?" Liuva smirked.

Kao grumbled something under his breath about Liuva's gauntlets and rather inappropriate places where she could store them.

He was cut off by a screeching noise coming from above them. Yuuki looked up and saw the outlines of a flock of what looked like birds. Their image was distorted and blurry, and they almost seemed to glow. If it weren't for their movement across the sky and the occasional flap of the wings, Yuuki might have mistook them for a constellation of some kind.

"There's been a few of them flying back and forth for a while now." Liuva said, switching to a more serious tone. "They don't seem hostile and it looks like their nest is further into the cliffs, but they're big; maybe the size of a small dragon."

"Any other creatures?" Yuuki asked.

"I've heard some scuffling further in, but when I looked, I saw nothing but rocks." Liuva frowned. "I dunno whether this place is beautiful or downright creepy; some part of me wants to run and hide, another part wants to snap pictures and buy some postcards."

"Where do we go from here?" Kao asked.

"There's a short path that leads away from here, but I haven't explored it yet."

"No time like the present." Yuuki announced. "Should we contact the rest of the group?"

"Already did." Liuva said. "Told 'em we're fine. And Kima's heading back to the town, so the others can start following us."

"Good."

The trio stood up, dusted themselves off, and walked down the path Liuva had found.

"At least the others will have to climb that cliff." Yuuki grumbled as he walked.

"What do you mean 'at least'?" Liuva asked.

"So they'll at least show me sympathy when I throw you over that waterfall."

Liuva didn't respond for a few seconds.

"You know Xenon can fly and Tear has a grappling hook, right?"

"Shut up."


	16. We'll cross that bridge

They stood before a bridge. Or at least, what appeared to be a bridge; it definitely _looked_ like a bridge, but it was made of some sort of magical energy. The individual planks flickered a transparent blue, so as you looked down you could see the equally as blue fire in the canyon far beneath it.

'The very dangerous fire that would destroy any living being that touched it.' Yuuki thought. 'Oh joy.'

"This doesn't look right." Said Liuva.

"You're telling me…" Yuuki huffed. "Can you blast over it like you did with the cliff?"

Liuva hesitated. "I dunno. Maybe, if I didn't screw up badly. But even if I could, what about you and Kao? I can't exactly carry you and do my thing at the same time."

"Too risky, then."

"Riskier than crossing the bridge?"

"There are magical bridges and stairs in Maple World." Kao chimed in. "All perfectly safe."

"Yeah…" Liuva grunted. "…but none of them are built over a giant pit full of instant-death-fire."

"Well, not specifically fire, but…"

"Don't answer that." Yuuki sighed. "I really don't want to risk it, but it looks like the only way to head in the direction we want to go."

The trio approached the bridge.

"I should go first." Liuva offered. "I can jump out of harm's way if need be."

"I can flash jump a little." Yuuki said. "Maybe not as well as Rondo, but enough to get me out of the way if something happens."

"Wait!" A new voice interrupted the impending debate. The group turned to face the source.

It was a girl, wearing the robes of the Nameless Town, and carrying a rather thick book. She approached the trio slowly, holding up her free hand to demonstrate that she wasn't a threat.

"You must not cross that bridge!" The newcomer exclaimed. "It's an illusion; the second you set foot on it, it will disappear and you'll fall into the flames below."

The girl bent down and picked up a small rock, and proceeded to toss the rock through the group. The rock fell through the apparent bridge to the canyon floor below.

Yuuki blinked in surprise. "I had been worried about that being the case, but thank you for telling us for sure." He turned to face the newcomer and extended a hand. "I'm Yuuki, this is Kao and Liuva."

"My name is Rino." The girl shifted her book beneath her other shoulder and shook the awaiting hand, and proceeded to do the same for the other two members of the group. She straightened, and her tone became serious. "You must never let your guard down. If you touch the flames here, your body will vanish forever."

Yuuki nodded. "So we've heard. We're looking for the Spring of Reflection to help Kao here regain his lost memories."

"Perhaps I can help." Rino said. "There is a safe path through…you all want to go to the spring?"

"Their group is exploring this place, I don't want to be a bother to them." Kao said. Yuuki was about to protest, but Kao held up a hand. "If you can take me to the spring, these two can explore on their own."

Rino smiled. "I have a better idea…there is a cave that leads to a safe path down the waterfall. It's a beautiful sight, and surely something you'll want to see. Normally the best way to get there is by boat, but we can get there from these cliffs."

"How so?" Liuva asked.

"By flying." Rino grinned. "Flying on the backs of Flame Birds."

"Flame…birds?"

There was a screech, and Rino pointed up. Above them flew one of the birds Liuva had spotted earlier.

"They really are gentle creatures." Explained Rino. "And with the right materials, you can ride them easily…if you two can gather the materials to summon the Flame Birds, I can take Kao directly to the spring."

"Sounds like a nice deal for all of us." Said Liuva. "Anything you want in return?"

Rino shrugged. "I enjoy seeing the waterfalls and I like flying on the Flame Birds. I suppose I'm in it for the same reason you two are: to explore."

Yuuki glanced between his friends. Liuva seemed hesitant, but eagerness shone in her eyes. Kao was simply ecstatic; a perfect opportunity to regain his memories, which hopefully wouldn't blow up in his face the way the last few times had gone. And Yuuki himself wanted to see the waterfall, and not just to push Liuva off of it. The trio shared a series of looks and nods.

"Sounds like a plan." Yuuki said. "What do we need to find?"

* * *

Following their agreement, the groups had split from each other, with Yuuki and Liuva moving further into the cliffs to gather materials while Kao and Rino headed off towards the spring. Yuuki also made it a point to contact their friends down in the village, to alert them to the bridge as well as the change in plans.

"So what got you so excited about Rino's plan?" Yuuki asked as he flipped over a small rock.

Rino had told them exactly what and how much she needed; rock claws from Stone Erdas to form a saddle, sticky oil from Flame Erdas to let them stick to the birds, and a hard shell from a Soulful Erda to use as a horn to summon the birds.

"What?" Liuva looked up from the dead tree she had been examining.

"You heard me, what made you agree to her plan?"

"Why are you asking?"

Yuuki shrugged. "Just curious."

"Probably the birds, then." Liuva said as she flipped another rock. "I'm a bit of a thrillseeker. Don't tell me you've never thought about flying on a dragon or something over the canopy of Minar Forest, just once."

"Eh, a little." Yuuki said, sitting down to take a break. "I'm more excited about seeing the waterfall."

Liuva gulped. "You…you weren't serious about pushing me over, were you?"

"Maaaaybe." Yuuki smirked. "Really, though, I just get the feeling it's going to be something impressive, like the cherry blossoms in Mushroom Shrine or the view from Goblin Hill in Korean Folk Town. I like natural wonders like that."

"I get what you mean." Liuva grinned. "Like that giant maple tree your girlfriend lives in, right?"

"Yeah kinda like that." Yuuki frowned. "Hey, wait, I told you guys, she's not- "

"Not your girlfriend, yeah right." Liuva huffed. "Can't blame people for trying, after Tear and Kyle hooked up there's no one left to make fun of."

Yuuki rolled his eyes.

"Find anything yet?"

"Nope." Liuva huffed. "And it's ticking me off, too."

Yuuki sighed and began wracking his brain for ideas. Finally, something came to him. He slapped his forehead in realization.

"Of course!" He exclaimed. "Why didn't I see it?"

He reached into his pocket and fished out his smart phone.

"If these monsters are Erdas, they probably have Arcane Force." He explained. "We can use the app Xenon installed to track them, instead of having to overturn every rock on the cliff."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Liuva asked. "Fire it up."

Yuuki tapped away at the device and paused. Liuva began tapping her foot in impatience.

"Huh." Yuuki mumbled under his breath.

"What is it, see something?"

"No, Xenon added a loading animation to this thing."

Liuva's eyes narrowed.

"It's a fancy, bouncy mushroom."

"Yuuki."

"He even put a top hat on it, see?"

"Yuuki, I swear."

"Yeah, yeah." The warrior held the phone vertically at arm's length. "It's loaded now."

The warrior began slowly pointing the phone's camera around the landscape. Finally, he stopped.

"Huh."

"If this is another mushroom in a top hat I'm throwing _you_ over the waterfall."

"No, no, it's…" Yuuki hesitated, then pointed at a large boulder further away from the duo. "That rock has a reading."

"Something behind it?" Liuva asked.

"Maybe…" Yuuki stood up and the two of them walked towards the boulder. It was at least as tall as they were plus another half body-length, with several spikes jutting out of the pointed top.

Yuuki put his phone away and unsheathed his sword while Liuva unfolded her gauntlets, and the two immediately took either side of the boulder. Yuuki gave a silent signal, and Liuva nodded.

Letting out two sharp cries, the duo leapt around the boulder to face their opponent.

Thin air.

The two glanced around in confusion. Liuva waved a hand through the air between them to prove it wasn't invisible. Yuuki quickly whipped out his phone again.

"I don't get it, it should be here, right?"

"You're the one with the magic phone, you tell me."

Yuuki huffed. He turned back to look at the boulder.

His eyes were quickly drawn to a small circle inscribed on the lower portion of the boulder. He stared at the design for a while before pointing at it with all the grace of a five-year-old.

"What's that?" He asked.

Liuva stared at the same design.

"It's a circle." She said, matter-of-factly.

Yuuki proceeded to kneel down, point his blade in front of him, and poke.

This, Yuuki immediately thought, had been a bad idea.

The boulder began to shake as if it were in an earthquake. The dirt on the cliff around the rock began shifting, and the rock itself began sparkling lightly. It rose in height until it towered over the duo. The circle inscription glowed as the rock lifted itself on four glowing appendages that looked uncannily like the legs of a bug. The bottom of the rock detatched from the top in a way that made it resemble a jaw. And finally, it whipped out the claws.

Two glowing blue sharp-as-scissors claws, lined with spikes.

Yuuki gulped.

"Huh."


	17. Stone Erda

Yuuki had a lot of things he wanted to do, like reach the top of the Mu Lung Dojo faster than anyone else, or claim top-prize in an Omok tournament, or learn what the deal airline food actually was.

Needless to say, getting horribly slaughtered by a vicious rock monster was not high on that list.

The Stone Erda charged forward and swiped its claws at the two humans. Yuuki managed to dodge-roll the strike while holding on to his sword in one hand and his phone in the other. Liuva pushed backward and did a small flip, landing in a crouch.

The creature seemed confused by the sudden movements of its new prey. Taking advantage of the downtime, the two began a hasty retreat. Liuva turned back as she was running and pointed her hands at an angle towards the ground; the open palms began to glow white hot, followed by an explosion that kicked up a cloud of dust. With the newfound cover, the duo hid themselves behind a large rock to catch their breath.

"Why in all the worlds would you poke that thing?!" Liuva whispered harshly. She didn't even know if that thing had ears to hear them with, but she wasn't taking any chances.

"It was a rock!" Yuuki hissed back. "Did _you_ expect it to turn into a giant monster?"

The creature let out a low screech, and began scuttling around to find its prey. Yuuki shifted around the rock some to keep out of the view, before pointing his phone at the creature.

"What's it read?" Liuva asked, still keeping her voice low.

Yuuki hesitated. "Fifty."

Liuva let out an audible growl.

"I think we can take it if we work together." Yuuki said as he pocketed his phone. "Magic armor or no, hit it enough and it'll fall down."

"Now you're speaking my language." Liuva smirked.

Yuuki nodded, gripped his sword, and held up his hand. Liuva shifted into a crouch, readying herself for a running start.

In one swift move, Yuuki dropped his hand in a signal, then immediately stood up from around the rock, stomped one foot, braced himself, and shouted. The human noise faded into an animalistic roar as Yuuki glowed a bright red, the magical noise visibly compressing the air in front. The shockwave slammed into the creature with massive force, causing it to stumble slightly.

Liuva immediately launched herself into the fray with an explosion, bringing one of her gauntlets around and slamming it into the creature's side, followed by a second, more concentrated explosion.

The Erda let out another screech and began flailing, the side of its boulder having cracked slightly. Yuuki quickly darted forward, pulled his sword back as it glowed with power, and stabbed it into the crack.

He could feel the power of the Arcane Force trying to kick him out, like trying to stick a finger through a sheet of plastic. The creature shrieked in pain and turned sharply. Yuuki released his sword and leapt back, narrowly avoiding the creature's claw. The warrior spun on his heel, and swiftly brought down his blade onto the place where the claw connected to the body.

There was a sharp crack combined with a metallic clang, the creature squealing in pain once more. But before it could spin around again, Liuva slammed a metal fist into its side. The creature slid backwards and toppled over, legs flailing uselessly on the side.

Yuuki grinned. With one claw damaged, it would be extremely difficult for a creature that top-heavy to pick itself up.

Or not. The Erda rolled on its side back and forth ever so slightly before rolling around and up back onto its legs with ease.

Yuuki started to curse under his breath, but was cut off sharply when the creature charged at him. He started to leap off to the side, but the creature's claw connected and sent him flying. The impact left him breathless and caused him to drop his sword before rolling to a halt some yards away.

The creature turned to Liuva, and the blaster got into a ready position. A solid punch and explosion might not defeat it, but it might disorient it and distract it enough to get to a better position.

The Erda charged, Liuva shut her eyes and threw a punch.

It never connected. The blaster opened her eyes with a start and stumbled over herself briefly before collapsing in an undignified heap with a small squeak and a loud thump.

Liuva looked up at the creature. It looked like it was frozen in time, surrounded by a light-blue energy. The creature looked startled, but otherwise couldn't move. She glanced over at Yuuki, still on the ground, with his hand extended, a shocked look on his face.

"H-how-!" The blaster began, but couldn't finish.

Yuuki blinked, then jumped to his feet.

"Never mind it for now!" He shouted. "Let's go!"

Yuuki ran forward and grabbed his sword, while Liuva shook herself out of her stupor and slammed another fist into the creature's side.

There was another explosion, and again the rock shell of the creature cracked, but the creature didn't react; it still acted as if it were frozen in time completely.

Yuuki stabbed his sword directly into the crack again, this time with more force. The creature's shield strained against the warrior's blade, pushing it back desperately, but finally, the plastic wrap popped, and Yuuki's blade connected with a softer interior.

It was more like stabbing something through Styrofoam than into flesh; it crunched and broke apart at the tip of the blade like paper mache. The blue glow around the creature began to swirl and fade, and the creature itself began to shake. Yuuki dug his sword deeper, all the way to the hilt, until the swirling light disappeared entirely.

The creature squealed and Yuuki yanked out his blade out of its side. It stumbled around slightly, as the squealing become quieter and quieter. The blue glow coming from the cracks on the creature's shell became dimmer and dimmer.

At long last, silence and darkness.

The creature collapsed on its feet, and the shell cracked down the middle. The claws fell off completely, as if they had been held together by the creature's energy.

The two humans were alone on the cliff once more.

They panted for some time to catch their breath. Yuuki even flopped down to take a rest. Liuva, cautiously, approached the husk, poked it once, and proceeded to pick up the claws it had left behind. She slid them into her bag, and sat down next to the exhausted warrior.

"So…" She began after some time. "Where'd you learn that?"

Yuuki hesitated and stared at the interesting part of the back of his hand.

"I didn't." He explained. "I just panicked, and zap: it happened."

"New skill, huh?" Liuva mumbled, staring at her own hand as her gauntlets folded back up into bracelets. "Y'know, that means you get to name it."

Yuuki thought for a moment. "What about, 'Erda Nova'?"

"Lame."

Yuuki snorted. "If you really think that then that's definitely the name I'm picking."

The two shared a laugh together. Liuva fumbled with her bag.

"These things are getting stronger." She said. "One rock took the two of us to take it down, and only because you learned a new thing. What happens when we get further into this place?"

Yuuki frowned and fumbled with his phone. After opening Xenon's app, discovering the slime-in-a-bowtie loading screen in the process, he pointed it at Liuva.

"There's something in your bag." He said.

Liuva frowned and took out one of the claws she just put in. Yuuki shook his head, so she took out the other one.

"Yeah, that's it. That thing's reading weird."

The blaster hefted the claw up to eye level and examined it. It looked like solid stone, hinged at the base, with spikes on the top of it.

With a grunt, Liuva started to pry the claw open. It didn't seem to want to budge, but she could feel the grip weakening.

There was a loud crack, and the claw snapped in half. Useless now, unfortunately, but they found their prize: a small, round pebble. It looked more like a pearl than anything, with a small, blue teardrop embedded in the center. Yuuki picked it out of the now-useless stone, and held it in his palm.

It twinkled briefly, then gave off a bright flash. There was a loud 'pop', and it was gone.

Liuva frowned. "A lot of things we get seem to just flash and disappear recently."

Yuuki shrugged, and held up his phone at the blaster.

"Forty." He said.

"Forty what?"

"Forty Arcane Force." Yuuki clarified. "It went up."

Liuva looked stunned. "Because of that tiny pebble?"

"I guess so."

"Wow." The girl mumbled. "I feel cheated for training so hard when I first joined the Resistance when all I had to do is hold a rock in my hands for a few seconds."

"A rock we got by beating up a larger rock." Yuuki said. "Which almost tried to kill us. Which almost killed us."

"Eh, details."

The two sat in silence for a while.

"This place isn't going to get easier, is it?" Liuva asked.

"I doubt it." Yuuki said. "But hey, I could be wrong."


	18. Let's fly

It wasn't getting easier.

Yuuki hissed in pain when a Soulful Erda managed to curl into a ball and slam into his back at top speed. Feeling himself flying forward, he quickly jammed his sword into the ground and let his momentum carry him into a flip. He landed flat on his feet and quickly let loose a Shout, which caused the bug to stumble slightly.

Yuuki swiftly yanked his sword out of the ground and stabbed it straight into the Erda's face. The creature squealed in pain as he felt the familiar Styrofoam-esque crumple of the Erda's inner flesh, but he couldn't quite get it deep enough to deal a fatal blow. He yanked his sword out and leapt back to give himself more room.

As soon as the warrior jumped back, Liuva blasted her way into the air. Aiming both hands towards the sky, she let loose another explosion, using the momentum of the blast to drive a single punch smack into the middle of the creature. There was a loud crunch, and the creature began stumbling around in its final throes.

At long last, it collapsed, and suddenly began shrinking and shriveling up like dried fruit. The interior dissolved into a white sand, leaving behind a shell, big enough to fit in both hands. Panting, Liuva swiftly retrieved the shell. The two fighters simultaneously and dramatically flopped to the ground in exhaustion.

Yuuki opened up his bag and reached in. Reaching into a magic bag was really weird; Yuuki could feel the cloth bottom of the bag, as if it were empty, and yet all he had to do was will whatever he wanted to appear, and appear it did. Provided someone put it in the bag to begin with, of course. In this case, he wanted waters, and two of them appeared. He tossed one to Liuva.

"Well…" Yuuki said as he unscrewed the cap on his bottle. "…we're finally done."

"At least that last guy wasn't as difficult as the Flame Erdas." Liuva quipped as she stretched backwards.

"Ugh, don't talk about those things, I don't even want to remember." Yuuki took a swig from his bottle.

The two sat in silence for a moment.

"So…" Liuva mumbled. "…no attempt at awkward conversation this time?"

"Nah."

"Good, I'm not up for it either." She hopped to her feet. "Let's head back and meet with Kao and Rino."

* * *

The former temple keeper and the girl they just met had arrived at the meeting place just beside the bridge illusion before Yuuki and Liuva had, and after exchanging a few, brief courtesies, Rino got to work. The girl took the claws that had been collected and began fiddling with the stumped end, almost coaxing it like a scared bunny. Slowly, the claws began to pry open, like a clam.

As Liuva feigned interest in watching the saddles being made, Yuuki turned his attention to his double. Kao had remained almost entirely silent since the groups met up, and, from what Yuuki could see underneath his hood, hadn't smiled once.

Yuuki opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated. What if Kao hadn't seen his past? Was the Spring of Reflection a flop? Or had something happened at the Spring just like with the Tree of Memories?

Or worse, what if Kao _had_ seen his memories? Kao forgot them for a reason, after all. Having all of Kao's memories return to him would mean the sad memories would return as well. Yuuki wouldn't want to forget the bad things in his life, but remembering them still hurt. And what if Kao hadn't been the person he thought he was?

'There are too many variables.' Yuuki thought. Something was clearly wrong, but one wrong word and he could hurt Kao and their relationship.

Yuuki, wisely, decided not to navigate the emotional minefield, and quickly shut his mouth without saying a word.

* * *

"Finished!" Rino cheerfully proclaimed and hoisted her finished product into the air. Several of the stone claws had been opened and glued together with the sticky oil, forming a rudimentary seat. Rino had completed four of such saddles.

Yuuki clapped, mildly impressed, while Liuva stifled a yawn. Rino harrumphed, but let out a toothy grin.

"Trust me, you wouldn't want to be flying without these." She said. "Unless you enjoy third-degree burns on the underside of your thighs."

Liuva muttered something about "friction" under her breath and snickered to herself. Yuuki rubbed his temples.

"Now, the main event!" Rino dramatically held up the Soulful Erda's shell. She took a deep breath, touched the pointed end of the shell to her lips, and blew.

The note the shell made was long, low, and eerie. Yuuki had heard conch shells before, but the noise the Erda's shell made sounded…off. Hallow, void of emotion. The noise echoed off around the cliff, and Yuuki half-wondered if the noise could be heard from the town across the lake.

When the note died off, there was silence. The group waited for something to happen.

And happen it did; a few seconds later, there was a high-pitched screech of a bird from somewhere above them. In response, Rino blew into the makeshift horn once again.

A second screech, louder this time. Closer. Yuuki looked out over the horizon and spotted a shimmering light. Squinting, he could see that it was not just one light, but four of them. They came closer, and closer, and closer, until Yuuki could clearly make out the details of each bird; a large wingspan with each wing the size of a full-grown person, they trailed wisps of flames from the tops of their heads to their tail feathers, and everywhere in between. The flock swooped down for a graceful landing near the bridge illusion.

Yuuki approached, slowly, but did not touch them. They didn't give off heat, but any Blaze Wizard would tell you (and they loved to tell you) that the heat of a flame didn't necessarily equal its destructive power.

The warrior felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and Rino silently offered him one of her makeshift saddles. Yuuki smiled as he accepted the gift.

"Let's fly."


	19. Above the lake

"THIS! IS! AMAZING!"

Liuva let out an infectious, if somewhat maniacal laugh as the wind blew through her hair. Her Flame Bird let out a screech as if to agree with her excitement.

Liuva's bird had taken to flying towards the front. Rino trailed behind her, occasionally shouting instructions like "lean into the turn!" or "no, wait, don't lean _that_ far!". Yuuki flew behind the two, and Kao flew slightly above and to the side of Yuuki.

The Extinction Zone was behind them, and the group of four was currently soaring over the Lake of Oblivion, headed directly towards the waterfall at the end of the lake. Their companions would take the land route- which Rino described as "long and kinda boring anyway"- and would meet them later on. The plan was, then, to camp beside the waterfall for the night (or at least what they thought was night, since there didn't seem to be a sun anywhere). In the morning, Kao would leave with Rino to go back to where he came from, and the party of six would begin the long trek down the cliff face and to whatever awaited them there.

Liuva was having the time of her life; the lake reflected the sky above them so perfectly that the sky might as well have been reflecting the lake. Occasionally there would be a large rock planted in the waters, which would create a spray of foam whenever the currents dashed against them. In the distance, the waterfall seemed to be the end of the world; the light-filled sky faded into a starless, black void on the horizon line, as if the creator of the world they were in simply decided to quit developing anything beyond that point. The cliff faces near the shore of the lake seemed to stretch infinitely, dimming as they receded into darkness.

If the lake waters hadn't been memory-erasing poison, Liuva might have wanted to live here.

"Liuva!" Rino called out over the wind. "You're too far ahead! Pull back!"

The blaster gave a grunt of acknowledgement- although it was doubtful anyone heard it- and pulled the front of her saddle backwards to tell her bird to slow down. The bird complied, although still chose to fly in front.

"That's good!" Rino nodded. "Flame Birds fly straight, but you should be careful!"

Liuva grunted, but still smiled. Flying like this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So thrilling…nothing could-

"Kao?! What are you doing?!"

A Flame Bird screeched behind Liuva, and she turned her head to see the commotion. Her eyes widened in shock.

Kao leaned his Flame Bird's saddle into a turn, smashing into Yuuki's. Yuuki's bird screeched and the warrior let out a yelp, barely holding on.

"Yuuki!" Liuva shouted. She nudged her Flame Bird back, but it was slow work.

"Do we really need two?!" Kao shouted.

"What are you talking about?!" Liuva hissed angrily.

"Do we really need two of the same soul?!" Kao nudged his bird again, this time swooping into Rino's bird. The girl let out a shriek as her mount turned sideways and she slipped off her saddle.

"Rino!" Yuuki shouted. He started to turn his bird to chase after the girl, but Kao slammed into his side once again. The warrior himself slipped off.

"Yuuki! Rino!" Liuva shouted.

But the only response she got was a fading scream plummeting towards the lake.

Liuva saw red. She saw nothing but red. She nudged her bird forward and into a tight turn. As she sped towards the temple keeper-turned-traitor she unfolded one of her gauntlets and let loose a primal scream.

* * *

Falling.

Yuuki could tell he was falling. He could hear the wind whistling around him. He could see his Flame Bird panicking and flying away without him. He could see Liuva shouting after him, but he couldn't hear her.

What he did hear, however, was the sound of a scream right next to him.

"Rino!" Yuuki shouted. The girl was flailing about in mid-air, her cloak whipping about her.

One of the first things they teach you when fighting in the air or near a cliff is how to land properly; Yuuki's magic might keep him from being killed upon impact, but from his height he would still sport some nasty broken bones even with his power. He had to slow himself down.

The warrior leaned through the air and caught the falling girl in his arms, pulling her close. A well-timed Flash Jump could slow their descent enough.

Then Yuuki remembered the water; the water that would erase your memories upon touching it. Normally, Yuuki would aim to hit the water to break his fall. This time, he wanted to avoid it.

He glanced down, mind racing. They were too far from the main shoreline; even a Flash Jump couldn't kick him that far over. But there: to his left was a patch of rock; a small island with nothing interesting in particular on it, flat enough to land on, but with some rocks to at least give him a backboard of sorts. It might hurt, but beggars can't be choosers.

Rino whimpered into Yuuki's chest. Now or never.

With some effort, he twisted himself in mid-air, stretching one foot and pulling one in. He let out a cry of determination, and kicked the air.

There was a small explosion of red energy at his feet and the pair were sent sailing towards Yuuki's target. Yuuki shifted around so that he was facing backwards, in order to protect Rino from the impact.

Yuuki shut his eyes and sent out a small mental prayer and apology to Sugar, just in case he wouldn't be able to see her again. Just in case...

The warrior felt the rocks slam against his armor. He felt his magic kicking in, protecting him from both the impact and the whiplash. He felt the pain as his magic reached the limits of its protection. He heard the rocks around him crack and crumble.

Yuuki blacked out.


	20. The situation

"Urrgh…"

"Hey, hey! You're waking up, don't black out again! Stay with me!"

"Ugh…buh…wuh…?"

After some struggle Yuuki managed to open his eyes, only to squint them shut immediately.

"Urrr…I feel…something heavy…headache ow." Yuuki clutched at his forehead as his mind made the upstream swim back to consciousness.

"Easy…easy…" The voice, which Yuuki managed to identify as Rino, placed a hand on his back and helped him sit upright.

Yuuki rubbed his eyes with one hand and managed to blink away the blur of colors that had hijacked his vision.

He was sitting in a pile of rubble, although it was evident that some had been cleared away for him to lie more comfortably in. The ground beneath him was solid, if a bit damp.

"Ugh…Rino? Where…where are we…?"

Rino turned her head and hesitated.

"This is the Cave of Repose." She finally explained. "It runs underneath the lake, and exits at the waterfall."

The cave was expansive; Yuuki couldn't see the walls of the cave in any direction, they only faded into an eerie blue-green fog. Sand was scattered around him, as were various mushrooms and glowing plants. The most defining feature was the presence of an uncountable number of tree-like stone pillars, whose tops were like tattered nets. Within the trees, Yuuki could see a thousand tiny sparks of light flow downward. Combined with the sounds of the lake flowing above him, it was an almost hypnotic sight.

Yuuki jerked his hand up from the ground. "The water-!"

"Easy…" Rino touched his shoulder. She pointed at one of the trees. "The cave absorbs the magic of the lake above it. The water that flows down here is normal water, no memory-erasing at all."

"So everything that flows down the waterfall…?"

"Is a normal river." Rino paused. "Or, at least, it won't erase your memories like the lake will."

Yuuki absorbed the new information. It was good to know they wouldn't be stuck back-tracking when their group ran out of fresh Maple World water. That just left getting back to the group and finding-

"Kao!" Yuuki exclaimed. "Where did he…?"

"I-I'm not sure." Rino took her hand away from Yuuki. "He attacked us, and we fell."

Yuuki slumped back. "I should have comforted him before…whatever he saw in the Spring must have caused him to panic and lash out."

Rino hesitated. "Y-yeah, that's probably it."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"W-well…uh…I mean…"

Yuuki held up his hand. "That's alright, what Kao did wasn't acceptable. I'm just trying to understand why he did it."

The warrior stood up, although his legs wobbled slightly. Rino helped to steady him.

"Your sword was lost." The girl explained. "I'm sorry, I wasn't able to-"

"That's alright." Yuuki whistled and clapped twice. The air in front of him glowed, and his sword appeared in a shower of sparks. Rino's eyes widened in surprise.

"This one time, I lost, like, three practice swords in a row." Yuuki explained. "So when I got a real sword to call my own I went to Sugar- she's one of my friends- and had her enchant it so I could call it back. Provided it's still within range, that is."

"That's…" Rino's eyes narrowed. "…convenient."

"Yup." Yuuki cheerfully grinned. "Now, I hate to ask you this, but can you get us out of here?"

Rino thought for a moment, then broke into a smirk of her own. "I think I can, actually."

* * *

A Flame Bird landed gracefully on the shore, and Liuva dismounted. Her landing sent a cloud of sand whisping around her legs.

She let out a soft sigh before she heard the noise of footsteps approaching from behind. She turned to look at the newcomer.

"…where have you been?"

He brushed some dirt off his sleeve.

"Hurrying all the way here." He said.

"How did you…?"

"I'm faster than I look."

Liuva paused.

"We have a problem." She said.

"I know." He replied. "Bigger than you think."

"Bigger, smaller, doesn't matter." Liuva growled. "A certain someone needs their face beaten in."

He frowned.

"I hate to ask this, since you're, y'know, you…"

"Hey!"

"…but there's something important I need to tell him."

Liuva looked him up and down.

"You think you can handle this on your own?" She asked. "I don't want to bust in there and save your lousy butt."

"Maybe, maybe not, but like I said..." He looked out over the horizon, towards the waterfall, and into the abyss beyond.

"It's bigger than you think."


	21. The solution is dissolution

"What is it?"

"It's a Slaw."

"Alright." Yuuki hesitated slightly. "What's a Slaw?"

Rino hesitated slightly. "I…don't actually know. I know it's a Slaw, though."

The pair stare at the offending obstruction to their path. It looked like a…it was kinda like…it had a…

…it was a Slaw.

Yuuki frowned. "Is…is it alive?"

Rino bent down and picked up a small rock. She proceeded to chuck the rock at one of the Slaw's faces. The rock simply bounced off the Slaw and clattered to the ground.

"I…don't think so?"

The Slaw in front of them made a squelching noise.

"Maybe."

The pair stood in silence for a while.

"So…" Yuuki huffed. "How do we get past it? It's blocking the path we need to follow."

Rino wracked her brain for a solution.

"There are creatures in here known as Tranquil Erda." She said. "They're very mysterious creatures, much smarter than the Erdas on the surface. They even wear clothes and carry lanterns, which are even said to move on their own."

"I'm sensing a 'but'."

"But…" She continued. "…they carry around a fuel for their lanterns: Tranquil Solvent. It can be used to dissolve the Slaw."

Yuuki sighed. Everywhere he went it was always "collect this", "kill that", and "I'm hungry, buy me a dozen eggs". _Everywhere_ he went.

"Alright, where can I find one of these Tranquil Erdas?" He asked.

Rino pointed deeper into the cave. "I believe they make their homes among the stone pillars, where the energy of the lake above is the most concentrated."

Yuuki heaved another sigh.

"Alright." He said. "I'll track down and get some of this solvent. You stay here. In fact…"

Yuuki pulled out his bag and fished out something: a small, palm-sized object dotted with a button here and a small dial there. In the center was a small screen.

"This is an emergency beacon. I thought I wouldn't need one since I have my phone, but it's useful now." He handed the device to Rino. "Try to contact the others. I'm not expecting much because of the cave's magic, but with Xenon working on it even a weak signal could be tracked down."

Rino nodded slowly.

"I'll come back here in a little bit. If I'm not back in an hour…" He hesitated. "…hopefully I'll be back in an hour."

* * *

It was a solid ten minutes before Yuuki managed to locate the Tranquil Erda in their…nest.

Just like the Happy Erdas the party had encountered on the surface, the Tranquil Erdas seemed to simply stand in a large, unmoving group. Yuuki wasn't quite sure what they were doing; sleeping while standing didn't seem to make much sense, if they even needed sleep to begin with.

The gathering of Erdas was quite visible as it radiated a soft, green glow thanks to the collection of lanterns that sat on the ground next to the Erdas. They were all identical: round, wicker-like cages surrounding an unseen light source. Rino had said the lanterns moved on their own, and that kind of magic wasn't uncommon in Maple World, but it usually implied some sort of possession by a spirit, which bothered Yuuki a bit. He was never good at dealing with ghosts.

Yuuki hid stealthily- or as stealthily as you can get when you're more of a slice-and-dice kind of fighter wearing decently heavy armor- behind one of the stone pillars, and pulled out his phone.

He swore under his breath when Xenon's app finally spat out an 80. Back in the Extinction Zone he had Liuva to help defeat the monsters until they got lucky enough to find another one of those little magic stone-dealies, but it was still tough work. After some fighting and gathering the two had managed to get themselves up to a solid 60, despite the fact that neither of them actually knew what the hell those little rock-things were or why they boosted their power in nice round increments of 10 like they did.

He watched from behind the pillar as one of the Erdas picked up its lantern and wandered away from the group. That was a stroke of luck; he didn't want to think of having to deal with multiple opponents under these conditions. He quietly sprinted in pursuit, running alone the rogue Erda's path and approaching it ever so slightly.

Yuuki made a misstep onto a nearby glowing mushroom, which sunk into the ground with a wet sound. The warrior whipped himself behind a pillar and held his breath. The Tranquil Erda turned, slowly, towards the sound. Seeing nothing, it turned back and continued meandering along to wherever it was going.

'How does Rondo do this all the time?' Yuuki thought to himself. 'I should get him to teach me that Dark Sight thing when I get back…'

Yuuki continued creeping behind his target. Taking a deep breath and wishing to himself that he had been an archer instead, Yuuki concentrated his power into his palm, held it out, and cast the new spell he had created.

 _Erda Nova_.

A bright blue ball of light shot out of his open palm. The Tranquil Erda turned itself around just as the spell hit its mark. The creature was frozen in time where it stood.

Yuuki didn't spare a second; he leapt out from his hiding place and refocused his energy into the tip of his blade, which formed into a glowing red orb. He swung the blade over his head and onto the Erda. The orb erupted into a column of red energy.

The Erda began to shake and move around, causing Yuuki to curse; the spell was wearing off faster than he anticipated. He quickly swung his blade in a powerful, diagonal strike made to puncture enemy defenses.

As his blade connected, the Erda broke free of the spell and let loose a squeal. It swung its lantern at the warrior, to which Yuuki was able to narrowly dodge. The Erda swung the lantern in the opposite direction. Yuuki quickly parried the stick- which was surprisingly strong for such a thin-looking twig- and grit his teeth.

His blade became surrounded with a black smoke and, loosening his grip slightly, he swung the blade down. The sword cut through the Erda with some difficulty, and smoke began to flow from where the blade had connected. A move designed to blind opponents when in a tight situation- Panic.

Yuuki immediately stepped back and let loose a Shout. The Erda stumbled backwards slightly; blind, confused, injured. Yuuki pointed his blade at the offending creature and charged. His blade stabbed cleanly, and the Erda screeched one last cry of pain.

Yuuki pulled his sword out as the Tranquil Erda vanished into blue sand. The rags the creature had been wearing and the green-glowing lantern it had been carrying fell unceremoniously to the floor.

Yuuki let out a large sigh and hunched down to catch his breath. He couldn't quit now, he needed that solvent to get out of the cave.

And so, feeling somewhat undignified, partially rude, and somewhat disgusted, Yuuki began digging through the Erda's clothes. In a stroke of luck, he managed to find not just a small, crudely-made container filled with a green liquid which Yuuki assumed was the solvent, but also another one of those shiny power-up rocks in one of the folds of the clothes.

But something felt…wrong. Yuuki's eye's narrow, and he gripped the hilt of his blade tight. He heard a clanking noise, and quickly summersaulted forward before twisting around to face his opponent…the lantern.

The lantern had begun to float eerily in the air and pulse rhythmically. Before Yuuki could do anything, the lantern pulsed brighter than before and shot out a blob of green energy directly towards the warrior who had attacked its master. Yuuki tried to roll out of way, but the attack clipped him on the back of his shoulder. Yuuki hissed in pain.

With one hand covering his fresh wound, he used his free hand to swing his blade around. The slice connected, and despite the Erda having been powerful, the lantern itself crunched on contact. The lantern flashed green, and then died completely, leaving behind an empty husk which quickly began dissolving into white sand.

Yuuki grunted and inspected the damage. The attack had ruptured part of his armor and there was a nasty gash on his left shoulder, but it wasn't life threatening. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a red potion and yanked the cork out with his teeth. Spitting the cork to the side, he took a long swig from the bottle.

Only to cry out in pain and almost choke on the liquid. His gash burned the second the potion touched his lips. He spat out the potion and let out a stream of curses to get over the pain.

"Potion locking". Magic imbued in an attack to prevent easy healing. Annoying, but not impossible to deal with.

Wincing, Yuuki quickly cast Hero's Will to dispel the effects of the curse. Feeling satisfied after being surrounded by the yellow glow of the spell, he took another swig of the potion.

He still gagged, but it was because of the taste this time, not the pain. He watched as the gash began to heal itself rapidly, leaving no trace of the wound at all.

Deciding to rest for a bit, Yuuki curiously held the bottle of solvent up to his nose and took a sniff.

"All that for this." He said, immediately regretting his decision. "Ugh, I want a nap."

* * *

Yuuki found Rino exactly where he left her; standing in front of the Slaw. He smiled at her and shook the bottle of solvent proudly. Rino grinned and nodded.

Yuuki popped the bottle open and stood in front of the Slaw. He cautiously tipped a few drops onto the creature.

Yuuki froze. It was quiet, almost unnoticeable, but he heard a voice. It wasn't a human voice, and it was very brief, but it sounded like someone crying out "no!"

And it sounded like it came from the Slaw.

Yuuki hesitated. He looked back at Rino, who urged him on. Yuuki glanced at the Slaw itself. The expressions on the creature hadn't changed at all.

Yuuki shut his eyes, and proceeded to dump the contents of the bottle onto the Slaw.

Peeking through one half-open eye, Yuuki watched as the creature shriveled up like a slug under salt. As the Slaw disappeared, it made a sound, like a cross between sand falling over a cliff and a voice wailing for help.

"Nice work!" Rino cheered. "Let's get out of here."

The girl walked past the warrior, through the cave path that led to the exit. Yuuki frowned, but followed shortly after.

After a brief walk, the cave branched into two different paths. Yuuki could hear the roar of the waterfall, which must have meant they were close to the end of the lake.

Rino paused for a moment and scanned the two paths in front of them. Her eyes drifted towards the path on the left, and she pointed towards it.

"There." She said. "The exit is right up ahead."

Yuuki grinned. He had a cool adventure, even if the cave was a bit dangerous. He had to show the others some time.

Yuuki marched towards the new path.

"Stop!"

Yuuki froze.

Yuuki turned.

Standing behind the two of them, sporting a series of cuts and bruises and nursing a wounded arm, was Kao.


	22. Arma

"Kao?"

Yuuki gaped at the sudden arrival of the monk. Thoughts whizzed through his head, gears turned and turned until he finally succeeded in processing what was before him.

"Y-you…!" Yuuki sputtered. "What are you doing here?! How did you…why did you…! Kao, I…!"

"W-what are you doing?!" Rino gripped Yuuki's arm. "H-he tried to kill us! Take him out first!"

"Enough." Kao ordered, leveling a glare at the girl. The stare sent a shiver down Yuuki's spine. The monk turned to face the warrior.

"Yuuki, you must not go into that cave." Kao gripped his wounded arm. "It's a trap. You can't go that way!"

"A…trap…?" Yuuki stepped back slightly. "Kao, what are you talking about?"

"H-he's lying!" Rino shouted. "H-he's trying to kill us again, I know it!"

"I said that's enough!" Kao shouted back. "Yuuki, you cannot go that way. You must listen to me...don't follow her!"

* * *

Kao stared into the waters of the spring. The spring glowed as blue as the flames around them, and yet the glow was more soothing, more natural.

Rino watched him as his fingers graced the still waters, forming perfect ripples spreading outward.

He felt a surge of emotions of all kinds: happiness, anger, sadness, joy…weaving together like a symphony of thought.

"Argh…" Kao clutched at his head. "…the Black Mage…Waiting…at the end of Arcane River…A crucial power…the future…"

He saw images of friends, images of enemies, images of random people he passed on the street. Every sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, emotion, logical thought, and instinct from the day he was born flowed back into his body.

"You stumbled because you were tricked…by Rino! Arma's follower!"

He stood upright.

"That's it! The reason I used every ounce of my power to travel back in time…it was to prevent my past self from making the same mistake…"

He lowered his hood and turned his gaze towards the traitor.

"I won't let it all happen again!"

Rino's normally cheery grin twisted into a gross smirk.

"Hmph." She huffed. "I knew I shouldn't have let you live…you barely have any power left for my master to absorb."

Kao raised his arms in a defensive position. Rino chuckled.

"That friend of yours will be nourishment for Arma." She shifted her position slightly. "As for you, it seems you've served your purpose once again."

Rino held out her hand. There was a flash of light, and Kao stumbled backwards. He felt the pressure of a fist clenched around his robe.

"It's time you disappeared."

Rino shoved.

The next thing he knew, he was falling.

* * *

"She tricked me, Yuuki." Kao finished his story. "She tricked both of us."

Yuuki turned to the girl who had a grip on his arm.

"Rino…?" He ventured.

The force of the shove was enough to send Yuuki flying into the far wall of the cave. He landed with a grunt of pain, but was otherwise unharmed.

"Tsk…it's a shame this couldn't have been easier." Rino harrumphed. "Oh well, Arma will deal with you soon enough anyway."

Yuuki opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't find the words.

Rino spread her arms, the mouth of the cave behind her seemed entirely pitch-black, as if it were consuming her.

"Master will deal with you shortly." Rino's eyes no longer held the innocent spark they had before. "He likes to watch his meals squirm."

There was a flash of multi-colored light and puff of magic, and Rino vanished.

Kao hurridly ran towards Yuuki to help him up.

"Kao…I…" Yuuki began, but was cut off by a rumbling deep within the cave.

"Nevermind that for now." Kao grimaced. "We have to stand and fight!"

Yuuki held his sword in a ready position. The rumbling grew louder, and more clear. Yuuki could make out the sound of something like a gigantic boulder being dragged along the sand.

"You wouldn't mind me asking what we're fighting, would you?" Yuuki managed a small chuckle.

It emerged from the cave like a steam train. The two lookalikes narrowly managed to jump out of the way as it slammed into the wall behind them, causing the cave to quake.

It looked like a gigantic worm of some kind; mostly green with a flurry of luminescent blue pulsing underneath its skin. It was at least as tall and wide as a bus, and twice the length.

"Arma." Kao growled.

Arma turned its head to face the duo. It had the circular "eye" of the Erdas. From its mouth leaked a sky-blue fog which Yuuki was sure meant bad news. It opened its mouth and let out an ear-splitting roar that shook the cavern.

"You fought it before…" Yuuki said. "Any tips?"

"His breath will destroy you and absorb your essence." Kao said. "I didn't think he would be here so soon. We need to get the others."

Yuuki growled. He and Kao had leapt to safety earlier, but were on the wrong side of the creature to make a retreat.

"I'll distract it!" Yuuki announced. "You go get them!"

"But Yuuki-!"

"I said go!"

Yuuki ran toward's Arma's tail and began channeling his energy towards the tip of his sword. He could see Arma ignore Kao and focus on him. That was good; Kao made it into the cave, he could make it out.

Arma lunged like bullet towards the warrior. Yuuki slammed his sword into the ground ahead of the creature causing it to erupt into a wall of red energy. Without missing a beat, Yuuki pushed off the ground with a Flash Jump, narrowly avoiding the worm's attack.

Sliding to a halt, Yuuki swung his sword over his head and cut deep into Arma's tail. It roared in pain as Yuuki felt the Styrofoam flesh of the Erda cut clean. He barely managed to leap over the tail as it swung itself around to dislodge the offending object. Yanking his sword out, Yuuki began putting distance between himself and the creature.

In a manner completely unbecoming of a world-renowned Explorer, Yuuki tripped on a rock. He landed flat on his face and immediately scrambled to get upright, letting out every undignified curse word he knew in every language from every world, which was muffled from a bruised nose which had begun to bleed slightly.

He heard a roar close behind him and gave up on trying to stand back up, electing instead to grab his sword and turn around to fight from on the floor. If he could at least distract the creature with a small blast he might be able to get away.

Alas, it was too late. The creature drew near, blue fog dripping with each breath the creature took. It sucked in a deep breath, and Yuuki held up his sword desperately to defend himself.

"NO!"

A familiar robed figure ran in front of Yuuki and spread his arms protectively.

There was a flash of lightning and smoke, together with a clash of magic thunder. Kao had taken the hit for Yuuki.

Yuuki saw Kao's body hit the ground and something went off inside him. Gripping his sword, he rolled backwards and landed on his feet, quickly standing upright. His sword began to pulse red and change shape, but Yuuki took no notice.

Yuuki swung his sword. There was a noise like that of metal carving through metal, and a wide arc of red energy erupted from his swing. When the wave finally struck Arma, the energy exploded, and the creature was thrown backwards until it slammed into the cave floor.

Yuuki charged the worm and leapt on top of it. When he approached the head, he thrust his sword down. The creature roared in pain as Yuuki cut through, and swung its head to shake the warrior off. Yuuki pulled his sword out and was thrown through the air, quickly landing on his feet.

Arma readied another blast of its breath, but Yuuki held his position. The bullet of energy shot towards the explorer, but was easily deflected by a red-colored shield forming instantly around him. Yuuki quickly swung another energy blast at the creature.

This time, Arma knew enough to dodge the attack, but failed to see the warrior charging it head-on. Giving a loud battle cry, Yuuki leapt into the air, closed his eyes, and swung his sword.

He barely felt the blade connect with the Erda's skin. As he landed, there was an impossibly loud noise as Arma collapsed to the ground. It managed a few more seconds of writhing around and one last weakened roar before growing silent. The body quickly began to dissolve into silver sand.

Yuuki opened his eyes in a panic.

"Kao!" He shouted, running towards where the monk had taken the hit. "Kao!"

His shouts were met with a pitiful groan. Yuuki skid to a halt and knelt before his other self.

"Nicely done…" Kao managed softly. "You beat Arma on your own. Even I couldn't do that…"

"Kao!" Yuuki grit his teeth. "Why did you-?!"

"Take the hit?" Kao sighed. "I already faced the Black Mage once and failed. It's your turn now."

Yuuki was about to protest, but Kao held up a hand to stop him.

"Please, Yuuki, trust me one last time." Kao groaned. "And…I have one last request, if you can manage."

"Anything."

"I want to see the waterfall again." Kao smiled. "I remember it from my time, it was truly worth the journey."

Yuuki nodded silently. He picked up the monk and walked.

He walked past the cave Arma had come through and towards the second exit.

He heard the sounds of the waterfall grow louder and clearer with each step.

He felt the sand beneath his feet slowly turn to solid but wet rock.

He could smell the smell of damp ground. He could taste the taste of fresh water in the air.

He emerged from the cave and saw the waterfall.

The waters of the lake cascaded down around them. A fine mist filled the air. Small ponds pooled on floating rocks surrounding them and dripped down into the abyss below.

Yuuki set Kao upright in a bed of plants, and proceeded to sit down next to him. The monk took a look around and sighed a happy sigh.

"I couldn't beat Arma." Kao said, closing his eyes. "But you could. You were able to tap into it…that power."

Yuuki looked at his sword. The design had changed; the handle had turned gold and the guard formed an intricate, laced pattern that wove itself around the blade. The blade itself was longer and wider, and had changed from its usual blue-silver hue to a sparkling red and yellow.

"The Sword of Burning Soul…" Kao closed his eyes. "Your friends undoubtedly possess similar abilities they have yet to see."

Yuuki watched as his sword dissolved into a shower of sparks, and returned to the original design.

"This isn't going to get easier, is it?" Yuuki asked.

"On the contrary." Kao smiled. "Compared to my journey, yours is already far, far easier."

The two stared out into the abyss.

"I really do love this waterfall." Kao said. "All these natural wonders around us, really. The sakura trees of Mushroom Shrine…the shimmering aurora of the Temple of Time…"

"Sugar's tree?" Yuuki ventured.

Kao nodded. "Sugar's tree."

"Is it too much to ask about the future?" Yuuki frowned. "An idea of what's to come?"

"Now where's the fun in that?" Kao smirked. "And besides, your fate has already changed. My advice would be nothing more than speculation."

"How stupidly cliché."

"It's also stupidly true."

"So, this is it?" Yuuki got into a crouch. "This is goodbye?"

"I'm you." Kao explained. "I'll never truly be gone as long as you exist. If you must attach a lesson to it, let that lesson be to keep living your life and keep being you."

The pair remained silent.

"One last thing." Kao said.

Yuuki tilted his head.

"Make sure you see Sugar again for me. And Tess. And Olive. And Rondo. Everyone. One last time." Kao frowned. "I miss them a lot. I miss Sugar a lot."

"You're not going to joke about that kind of thing, are you? You're starting to sound like Aran."

Kao laughed weakly. "I think it's a lot more fun if I don't tell you one way or the other."

Yuuki placed his forehead into his palm.

"You will see them again?"

"Of course." Yuuki sighed. "They're my friends, and I promised them. What kind of stupid question is that?"

"An important one, to me."

Kao watched as his hand started to grow transparent. It spread up his arm and across his whole body.

"There are a lot of things down there, Yuuki." Kao said. "You'll meet a lot of people, many different Erdas. Strange new places, strange new powers, powerful new enemies…"

Yuuki closed his eyes.

"The journey is worth it alone." Kao said. "I hope you have a lot of fun along the way."

Kao's body shone brightly and dissolved, slowly at first, into a stream of white sparks. Faster and faster they wafted out onto the breeze and joined the stars in the sky.

Yuuki opened his eyes, and Kao was gone.


	23. The first report

"That," Neinheart said through the distorted screen of the communications device, "is by far the absolute craziest report I have ever heard."

"Thanks, Neinheart." Yuuki frowned as his second attempt to light a fire failed.

"I am including the time an explorer reported they were almost married off to a mushroom princess."

"Yes, thank you Neinheart."

"I am also including the time someone claimed we were under attack from 'chocolate from another dimension'."

"Yes, thank you Neinheart."

"I am also including– "

"We get it, three eyes!" Liuva shouted as she set down a large bundle of firewood she had procured from elsewhere.

Neinheart grumbled something in response before continuing. "It is a shame to hear about Kao, though I'm not sure what to make of his warning."

"It sounds like the Black Mage is at the end of this river." Aran said as she fixed Tear's tent so it wouldn't collapse on itself. "I'm worried, but I don't see what's not to get."

"What I don't get," Neinheart fixed his monocle, "is where the end of this river is. For all we know, it could go on for miles. I was intending on recalling you from this expedition after a few months, at maximum."

"Then maybe we'll be fighting the Black Mage within a few months." Tear brushed some dirt away from the spot that was to contain her sleeping bag.

"That would be dangerous." Hayato chimed in. "We are nowhere near powerful enough to face him right now."

"It also makes no logical sense." Neinheart said. "Time travel is extremely difficult and requires large amounts of magical power, even for a skilled magician. Alpha and Beta can only pull off rudimentary manipulation. Even Rhinne herself was only able to manipulate time in fairly localized manner."

"Perhaps science was involved?" Xenon queried as he tried to help Yuuki light the fire. "Magic is not the only method of time travel."

"Kao said it himself: he used the last of his power to travel through time." Neinheart rebutted. "And even if it were some device, that too is limited, not only would it still require large amounts of energy and calculation, but it would attract the attention of Apsu."

"So then…" Yuuki hummed as the fire finally caught. "…what's your theory?"

"My theory," Neinheart huffed, "is that Kao comes from the far future. And this expedition may only explore a fraction of the river for now."

"Is that a problem?" Yuuki asked.

"Well, not specifically…"

"Then we'll only be exploring a fraction of the river for now." Yuuki stretched backwards. "It's not as if that fraction won't be helpful, and the next expedition – if there is one – can pick up where we left off, instead of cutting us six off from the rest of the world for the rest of our natural lives."

Neinheart fumed slightly at the interruption, and then sighed.

"You're right, for once."

"Hey!"

"Exploring this river may need to become a full-time effort of the Alliance, far beyond a simple six-man expedition. The priests of the Temple of Time have already elected to begin exploring and cataloging this 'Lake of Oblivion' area for further exploration. Truthfully, we are already thankful for your help, and I hope your future exploration goes as well as this did."

Yuuki nodded.

"Is there anything else you wish to report?"

Yuuki thought for a moment.

"You know how you specifically prepared this team so that there wouldn't be any drama, infighting, or other petty squabbles?"

Neinheart frowned. Liuva poorly held back a smirk.

"Liuva had a huge fight with Tear the minute we set foot on the lake shore."

"SHE DID WHA– "

Neinheart's voice clicked off mid-sentence as Yuuki ended the call. Liuva promptly burst out laughing.

"We need to have a fight every single day!" She managed between giggling fits. "Just to see his face!"

* * *

"So, absolutely nothing happened to you while you were walking towards the cave?" Yuuki asked.

"Not a thing," Aran grumbled, "It was legitimately boring. Not even enemies to pass the time. I heard you guys took the more 'scenic' route?"

Yuuki nodded slowly. "Almost killed by a walking rock, almost getting killed from plummeting about twenty stories, and almost getting killed by a giant worm, sure."

"Sounds fun."

"Believe me if I could, I'd trade it for your lovely little stroll on the beach any day."

Aran nodded.

"By the way, did your Arcane Force go up?"

"It did." Yuuki looked surprised. "How'd you know?"

"We got a message from the Memory Keeper." Aran explained. "He discovered that we're in possession of this sort of 'shield' thing called an 'Arcane Symbol'."

Aran held her hand out, and there was a brief flash. Floating above her palm was a small, crystalline sphere, almost like a snowglobe. It pulsated with energy.

"It protects our souls from the energy-sapping power of the Erdas." Aran said as she dismissed the Symbol. "That's what Xenon measured as 'Arcane Force'."

"We did find these tiny marble things." Yuuki thought out loud. "They were being absorbed into the Symbol and we didn't even notice. Nice. Any downsides?"

"None that we can see." Aran said. "Free power, essentially. I'm wary, but now that I know about it I can control it a lot better. I even created this cool new skill that lets you bind enemies in place– "

"Erda Nova." Yuuki said. "I used it against the giant rock and called it 'Erda Nova'."

Aran gaped. "But…but…I found it! How come you get to name it?!"

"Because I called dibs."

"You didn't call– "

"Dibs!"

Aran proceeded to smack the warrior on the back of the head.

* * *

"No way, Kao's from the future?" Kyle asked, his voice distorted through the communicator's screen.

"Yup!" Tear nodded and kicked up her legs. She had been lying flat on her stomach talking to the Nova boy for a solid ten minutes, replaying every detail since they had arrived. The tent she (plus or minus Aran) had set up was surprisingly cozy and warm, as it happened to be situated closest to the fire.

"I don't believe that." Kyle shook his head. "That's like something out of a bad sci-fi flick."

"And he's actually Yuuki! Yuuki from the future!"

"Double cliché, double don't believe it."

Tear stuck out her tongue.

"I know it's only been a day, but did anything happen to you?" She asked.

Kyle thought for a moment.

"Come to think of it, I did find something strange while I was running missions for Edea on Heliseum."

Tear perked up and waited for the story to continue.

"I was heading through the forest to clear out a new supply route and I stumbled upon a battleground."

"Battleground?" Tear asked, confused.

Kyle nodded. "Someone had a battle there. Recently, too, since some of the craters were still hot."

Kyle sighed. "I found some Specter debris and broken armor, but no Nova armor, so whoever fought there must have been pretty strong to have wiped out a horde of Specters with no collateral damage."

"Maybe it was a Maple World explorer?" Tear pondered.

"Maybe." Kyle said. "But Edea has been focusing them on clearing out old outposts, so I don't know."

"Ooo! Ooo!" Tear squeaked. "Maybe it's a new hero from Grandis! Like another you or me!"

"One of you is plenty, thanks."

Tear stuck out her tongue.

"Although…"

"Ewww!"

"N-not about that!" Kyle turned a bright shade of pink. "I-I meant about the hero from Grandis thing…bit…that."

"You think so?"

"Yeah." Kyle quickly regained his composure, although his cheeks were still twinged with red. "Maybe someone got the idea to try and be like us. It's not like it wouldn't be helpful, you know?"

"I just hope they're friendly!" Tear chirped.

Kyle smiled.

"I love you."

Tear flushed as pink as Kyle had earlier.

"L-love you too…"

The Nova boy gave a small wave.

"Be safe out there!"

"You too!"

The communicator blinked off.

* * *

Tear stuck her head out of the tent. The group had ate a surprisingly decent dinner of sandwiches from the rations before Tear had made her call; Tear had wound up not being so hungry, so she put her extra sandwich in her pack so as to prevent greedy hands from stealing it. And now, the group was simply itching to get some rest. Hayato lay on his back and looked up at the stars.

"It's really rather beautiful, don't you think?" The samurai asked.

The group let out a collective groan.

"Shhhh…shhhh…shhh" Aran hushed, her face muffled by her pillow. "Sleep now. Long-winded speeches tomorrow."

Hayato glared at the hero before settling down himself. Tear followed suit.

The stars were especially beautiful that night. Tear didn't notice, as she had fallen fast asleep.


	24. The morning stroll of a sleepyhead

When Tear awoke, it was dark. When she had gone to sleep, the fire had bathed her in light, dimmed by the fabric of her tent and casting a dance of shadows on the pile of blankets and pillows that counted as her bedroll. And now, it was dark.

'Fire must have gone...whassaword…out.' She managed to think. Tear was never one for mornings; one time, after they had fallen asleep from playing as kids, she had been so groggy that she mistook Kyle's tail for her own thumb and had started sucking. Velderoth had managed to shake her from her stupor, but thank the gods Kyle never found out.

Remembering Velderoth, Tear decided that it was simply too early to deal with sad reminiscing. And so, she quickly popped her head out of her tent in search of breakfast.

She found none. In fact, it looked like she was the first one awake, which was unusual for her. It was also bad news for her; she was hungry, and she wanted breakfast.

Rubbing her eyes, Tear got out of her tent and stretched in front of the pit where the fire had been. Idly, she wandered past her friends' tents and towards the small cliff that reached out towards the middle of the falls.

She slowly reached out her hands into the cascading wall of water and splashed her face. She sputtered slightly and shivered; it was cold. It seemed as if it was permanently nighttime on the lake; the stars glittered above her the same way they had when she had gone to sleep, and the breeze was chilled from the lack of sunlight. She quickly dabbed her face dry with her sleeve.

Stepping back, her heel caught something that wasn't grass. She knelt down and brushed her hands against the robe formerly worn by Kao. She frowned, and ran her hands along the soft fabric. Tear hadn't really known Kao. Although now, she supposed she did know Kao all along. Or something. The whole time-travel situation kind of went over her head a bit.

Tear's train of thought was interrupted when her fingers brushed against something cold, smooth, and round. She fumbled around the robe and pulled out a small orb, with what appeared to be a small, dark blue teardrop preserved inside.

'It's an Arcane Symbol.' Tear thought. 'But I've never seen one like this before…'

She rolled the Symbol in her hand, and tried to will her own Symbol into absorbing the new one, as the Memory Keeper had instructed her to. But the orb sat in her hand, as inert and non-magical as the pebbles she used to collect as a kid.

Tear hesitated for a moment.

'It must be Kao's Symbol.' She concluded. She quickly pocketed the orb to give to Yuuki later. Same person, same magic-soul-thing, right?

"Tear?"

The girl jumped at the voice.

"Hayato!" She exclaimed. "You startled me."

"My apologies." The samurai bowed slightly. "I have been told by some that I tend to…'sneak up' on people sometimes."

Tear giggled. "You came to give that speech you were going to give last night?"

Hayato made a face. "I was going to ask you, actually, if you wanted breakfast. I was going to begin preparing it."

"Ooo! Yes please!" Tear happily skipped towards Hayato.

"Bread and jam are a bit lackluster." Hayato said as he began walking back towards the camp. "But we're not particularly going to find more extravagant food around here, at the moment."

Tear nodded. The group would eat breakfast, then pack up their things and begin the slow trek down the-

And that was when Tear, unfortunately, slipped. It wasn't really her fault, she just put her foot down and the rocks were more slippery than she had expected and her shoes didn't stick quite right, so one thing led to another and…well…

At first, she didn't even realize she was falling, she was still thinking about the plan to journey down the cliff. She watched, in slow motion, as Hayato's eyes widened in surprise, and the samurai seemed to grow several feet in height.

She let out a surprised squeak before flailing her arms above her to try and catch herself. She felt her body jolt as Hayato caught her arm.

"D-don't let go!" Hayato exclaimed. Tear said nothing, and instead stared in abject horror at the seemingly-bottomless abyss beneath her.

Tear could hear her sleeve start to tear from the strain. Her own hand couldn't get a grip on Hayato's wrist guards, which had become damp due to the waterfall's mist. Tear dropped a few inches and let out a small whimper.

"Y-your other hand!" Hayato yelled. "Give me your other hand!"

Tear swung her arm up at the samurai, only to miss spectacularly. Her sleeve finally gave way, and Tear felt the stomach-churning feeling of freefall.

She could see Hayato shouting after her, but she couldn't hear him; her own screams of pure terror were louder.


	25. Mr Fish

Tear remembered hearing someone once say something along the lines of "Heroes never really get over their fears, since courage is just the ability to push past fear; any hero claiming to be completely fearless is either lying or fresh off the boat from Maple Island."

She didn't remember this right now, of course. The whole "falling off a waterfall into a bottomless pit of nothingness" was a bit more urgent than a nice truism that, in retrospect, was probably something from a motivational poster instead. Plummeting to your doom has a small tendency to make some people's minds go completely blank in sheer terror.

"TEAR! KID! HEY! KID!"

Some of the lucky people have their minds inhabited by ancient Nova deities.

"TEEEEEAAAAAR!" Eskalade cried. "USE YOUR…HOOK! THING! TEEEEEAAAAAR!"

Some of the rusted-up gears turned in Tear's head until she finally remembered that she had a grappling hook. Still screaming, Tear twisted herself around, summoning her Soul Shooter as she did so. Aiming at a small ledge above her, she felt the energy condense at the tip of her weapon, and she fired.

The hook shot straight up and crashed into the ledge. Tear expertly twisted around the chain and slowed her descent, grinding to a halt just as she felt the energy chain start to grow too long to maintain.

Tear cracked one eye open. She had stopped falling, for now. That was good. Not falling was good.

"Kid…" Eskalade panted, or whatever the equivalent of panting was for ghost dragons. "…thank the gods, kid."

Tear slowed her breathing back to normal. Battle experience took over and started to analyze the situation.

'Alright Tear,' she thought, 'you're hanging by a magical chain off a cliff. What can you do?'

What was nearby? Some floating ledges, and the cliff face behind the waterfall. Also, darkness.

Use nearby things to her advantage? The floating ledges were too far apart vertically to be of any use, and the literal tons of cascading water made climbing the cliff impossible for her.

Which way does she want to go? Up led to the camp site and her friends, but it was impossible to reach. Left and right seemed to stretch on infinitely into dark fog. But there was also…

Tear glanced at the abyss beneath her. It looked so close, like she could reach out with her foot and touch some sort of invisible floor, but she knew better.

There was, supposedly, a path to the bottom of the falls. If she could make it down, she could wait for her friends there.

There was water beneath her. That could break her fall if she timed her flash jumps properly. Assuming the bottom wasn't some sort of invisible floor, of course.

Tear took a deep breath.

"Esky! I'm dismissing the chain!"

"WHAT?!"

"And if we survive this fall I'm telling Kyle about the tail-sucking incident!"

"I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THAT MEANS SO PLEASE DON'T JUMP INTO THE-"

"ThreetwooneGO!"

Normally Tear would have found an ancient Nova deity screaming like a little girl to be hilarious, but today she shoved her smugness aside for a moment and focused on the wind as it picked up. Her stomach started to float and she grit her teeth as the darkness came closer and closer, until Tear was left surrounded by absolutely nothing.

The roar of the water and the roar of the wind became indistinguishable from silence. For a brief moment, Tear thought that she had died; that her grappling hook had missed its mark and she had become a girl-shaped pancake.

And that's when she saw the sun.

The sky turned so blue so fast that Tear had to rub her eyes and blink away her night vision.

The sky was blue, the water beneath her was blue. A short distance ahead of her lay, of all things, a lush, green island speckled with color here and there.

"Wha-wha…whaaaaaat?!" She exclaimed, forgetting her landing strategy for a moment. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHH! HOW DID I GET SO HIGH UP?!"

It was a stupid question, but the blue sky, river, and island had kind of thrown her off her game.

When her brain had finally processed the information, Tear immediately twisted herself upright. Delivering a powerful kick to the air beneath her, she heard the familiar, magical "pop" of her flash jump. The roar of the wind died down slightly, and she could hear Eskalade screaming like a little girl again.

She was contemplating when to make her second kick when a grey blur shot out from beneath her. Startled, Tear let out a squeak of surprise and flailed about in mid-air, just in time to collide with the blur.

"OOF!" She felt the wind get knocked out of her as she collided with something large, solid, and…kind of slimey?

"Wha…I…" Tear scrambled upright as she felt herself moving forward instead of down. "I'm…alive?!"

She squished her fingers together slightly and glanced down.

"Wait…am I riding a f-flying fish?!"

A fish with wings. A literal flying fish. A person who hadn't just fallen 30 stories probably would have been questioning the biology of such a creature.

"You know what," Tear said aloud, "it doesn't even matter. Mr. Fish, you're my best friend right now!"

Mr. Fish, being a fish, said nothing, and continued flying along at top speed, as flying fishes do whenever a strange big-headed monkey creature lands on top of them.

Tear frowned. "Um…Mr. Fish? Where are we going?"

Mr. Fish zipped along the river, trees blurring in the background. Tear could see various, colorful rocks jutting up out of the water, and in the background was a gigantic mountain, the top of which looked uncannily like a large whale. Eskalade had gone completely silent for the time being, and Tear briefly wondered if a spirit was capable of passing out from fear.

Mr. Fish made a sharp right which caused Tear to let out a squeak. The pair barreled down a small inlet, at the end of which Tear could see a gigantic, yellow boulder.

"Mr. Fish?!"

Mr. Fish skimmed the water briefly before making a sharp 180-degree turn. Tear yelped as she was thrown off her new friend and landed on a small strip of land, eventually rolling to a halt.

Tear sputtered and spat out a blade of grass.

"Mr. Fish!" Tear called. But it was of no use, as Mr. Fish simply dove back into the river and began swimming in the opposite direction.

Tear groaned and clutched her head.

"W-where am I?" She wondered aloud. "And why did he suddenly dump me here? I thought Mr. Fish was here to help me…"

" **HUNGRY!** " Boomed an extremely loud voice behind the Nova girl. Tear jumped in shock and looked every which way to find the source.

" **MUTO IS HUNGRY!** " The voice boomed again. Tear stood up as she turned around and took in the sight.

What she had thought to be a yellow boulder actually had a face. A very angry face, with a jaw as large as a boat. The golem opened its mouth to speak again.

" **MUTO IS HUNGRY!** " It repeated.

"Wha-! I-I…" Tear was flustered for a second. "A-are you…you're hungry?"

" **YOU HAVE FOOD?! GIVE TO MUTO!** "

Tear panicked slightly and patted her sides. Her hands came across her bag and she remembered her leftover sandwich from last night. Hastily, Tear fished half of it out, and frowned. She didn't have any spare food except the sandwich, since Xenon, being considered the most trustworthy of the group, had been given all the edibles, and a pint-sized sandwich was going to be nowhere close to satisfying for a creature of that size, let alone half of one. And if it wasn't satisfied with the sandwich…what if it decided on a nice Tear-casserole instead?

" **TASTIES!** " The creature boomed.

In a panic, Tear quickly and nervously held out the half to the creature. It opened its mouth and Tear, who had at this point was too afraid to be afraid of being eaten, tossed the half in. The creature's mouth closed, and its expression changed.

"YUMMY!" It boomed, slightly quieter this time. "GIVE MORE!"

Tear blinked, then frowned.

"H-hey, wait a second!" She shouted, quietly. "T-this is my sandwich! I don't have any more so I can't give you any!"

The creature glared at Tear. For a brief moment, Tear thought it was going to eat her instead. She was quickly interrupted when the creature started sniffling, and finally burst into tears.

" **WAAHH! MORE TASTY!** " It cried.

"Wha-! Buh-! Huh-?" Tear managed. "S-sorry, but–"

" **MORE TASTY!** " It boomed, sounding angrier this time.

"Eep!" Tear got out.

"Have no fear, your hero is here!" Came a new, unfamiliar voice from behind.

Before Tear could turn around to face whatever crazy thing had arrived now, there was a sharp "crack!", and the girl was out like a light.


	26. Welcome to Chu Chu!

"This is the life." Tear said as the bright, cheery sun slipped its way past the thick canopy of palm trees. A breeze blew by and the ruffles on her swimsuit swayed like the leaves above her.

"Yes." Kyle said, clinking his glass with Tear's. "Yes it is."

"More lemonade, mistress?" Tear turned towards the voice and lifted her sunglasses.

"Why thank you, Edea." Tear said, and exchanged her half-empty drink with a fresh one on Edea's platter. This time, the little umbrella was blue and not yellow. Tear took a small sip, and Edea gave a small curtsy with her maid dress.

"It is my pleasure to serve you, mistress." Edea stated, and simply walked away.

"And do have Eskalade remember to sweep the floors _properly_ this time, please."

Edea turned and gave another curtsy before responding. "Of course, mistress."

Tear sighed in bliss. This couldn't get any better.

"Tear, my darling…" Kyle began. "We've been together for so long now…"

The dragon boy hopped off his beach chair and knelt beside the girl. Tear gasped.

"Tear, my love…I cannot hold back any longer!" Kyle produced a small, black box from nowhere.

It could get better!

"Will you…"

It was getting better!

"…please…"

Tear closed her eyes and gently held out a hand trembling with excitement.

"Wake up, meow!"

Tear blinked, and the wind grew silent.

"Er, roar. I meant roar." Kyle said again, slightly embarrassed.

Tear stared at the boy.

Kyle stood up and brought his hands behind his head as if he were holding something, like a bat or a stick.

" **HYAA!** " Kyle shouted, as he brought his hands down.

Tear felt a sharp crack on the back of her head, and the ocean view she had been watching earlier shattered painfully into a series of colorful blobs. She clutched her head and let out a groan, not even finding the strength to say "ow".

"Oh, good, you're awake!" Said a particularly large and funny-shaped brown blob.

Tear focused and the blob grew sharper. She blinked in well-justified surprise, considering she was now face-to-face with a lion.

A lion, standing on its hind legs, wearing a brown cloak and a grass skirt. In its hand it held a rather solid-looking curved staff, decorated with colorful leaves.

Talking animals were nothing new in Maple World, and many such talking animals wore clothes as well, but the creature before Tear seemed more human-like than any animal she had seen. Its hands were jointed in ways that more closely resembled a furry human fist, and its face was flatter and shaped differently than that of a normal lion.

Tear found it kind of creepy.

She moaned in pain again before struggling with her actual words.

"Who…who are you?"

"Oh! Me?" The lion-creature responded in surprise. "I'm the greatest hero and chief that Chu Chu Island has ever seen! I am as wise as I am strong, and no one is more respected by the villagers…"

Tear would have doubted this, if it weren't for the searing pain.

"I'm Lyon, meow!" Lyon said cheerfully.

Tear blinked.

"Meow?" She asked.

"H-huh?!" Lyon stepped back nervously. "Y-you're hearing things. I clearly just roared."

Tear frowned.

"I distinctly heard a meow..." She said quietly. "Aren't you a lion?"

Slowly, her thoughts came trickling back to her.

"Wait…" She thought through the pain. "AHH!" She squeaked and stumbled back.

"It's a lion!" She said, rather obviously. "Or…at least…" She hesitated. "…some kind of man-lion-thing…"

"No, no." Lyon smiled. "Lyon. With a 'y'. Come along, I'll show you around the village!"

Tear was about to protest, but Lyon simply turned-heel and marched off in the opposite direction.

The dragon girl, now alone again, frowned.

"Well..." She said aloud, although she wasn't quite sure who she was talking to. "A walking, talking lion-person isn't the _weirdest_ thing I've seen in Maple World…"

The girl paused for another second before picking herself up and hurrying along to catch up to her new guide.

* * *

Tear finally burst from a rather thick cluster of colorful plants and found herself in the middle of village. The houses were oddly-constructed, seemingly made of thatched wood, carved into trees, or simply cobbled together out of natural materials.

If you could call any of the materials "natural", that is. Some of the things hanging off of the buildings seemed to defy logic; wood that seemed infused with patterns she had never seen before, fruits that went well beyond the definition of "exotic"…it all felt so surreal. A melody seemed to play through the town, one that made Tear want to hum despite having never heard the song before.

"Welcome..." Lyon announced. "...to Chu Chu Island!"

Tear stared in bewilderment.

"Chew…Chew?" She ventured.

"Yeah, Chu Chu!" Lyon said proudly. "What do you think? Isn't it a great name? Hahaha, I have the greatest names! Don't you like it?"

The lion-person stared at the girl expectantly.

"Er…" Tear hesitated. "It's…great?"

Lyon beamed.

"Anyway…" Tear continued. "Who are you? And what was that huge creature blocking my path? I need to keep going…although…I'm hungry…and my head really hurts."

"T-that's probably nothing!" Lyon said quickly.

Tear eyed him suspiciously.

"A-anyway…" Lyon continued. "That big creature was Muto, and as I already explained, I'm Lyon; the chief."

"Muto…" Tear said quietly. "W-wait, and you're the master of this village?"

"Well actually," Lyon said, playing with his mane, "there is this cool, brave, and handsome chief but…master? I'd say I'm a volunteer. I'm nice like that. Nobody asked me to maintain order, I just do it out of the kindness of my heart, meow!"

Tear opened her mouth to say something but was cut off.

"And in any case, those that live here don't have any memories of their past. It's kinda weird now that I think about it."

Tear blinked. "No…memories?"

"We all just sort of woke up at different times in different places. Eventually, we all ran into each other, and started this village, meow!"

'He's a little too dumb to be one of the Black Mage's minions…' Tear thought to herself, smiling politely on the outside. 'A lion that walks and talks like a person, hmm…it's like the people on this island were made by mixing a bunch of different animals together.'

Tear had heard of the alchemists of Magatia doing something similar, and it had always weirded her out. Especially since the Black Wings had reportedly done the same thing in the mines of Edelstein…only to humans…

"…and as for Muto, hoo boy…" Lyon blabbed on, snapping Tear out of her thoughts. Muto was what Lyon had called that giant creature, right? The mean one that stole her precious sandwich.

"Muto is a baby adored by the people of Chu Chu Village." Lyon said. "He's such a nice, honest kid."

Tear had thoughts about the "baby" part, as well as the "nice" part, but Lyon continued.

"Muto is the one who protects us from Gulla!" Lyon announced proudly.

"Gulla?" Tear questioned the new name.

"Gulla is a giant monster that lives near Chu Chu." Lyon explained. "He's really big and strong. And violent. Gulla comes up to land every 10 days to eat anything that moves."

Tear gulped. Nova girls don't generally like being turned into fish food.

"Thankfully, our adorable Muto managed to defeat Gulla every time he attacked Chu Chu." Lyon said. Tear breathed out a sigh of relief. Giant rock monster or no, not being fish food was generally a good thing.

"So, us villagers cook Muto food as a token of our appreciation!" Lyon said cheerfully. The lion-person then frowned. "But, lately, he's been refusing all of the food we make for him…and if he doesn't eat, he won't have the strength to fight Gulla."

Tear frowned right back.

"But…he ate all the food out of my bag," Tear said, shaking her pack for emphasis, "except for this lonely half of a sandwich…"

Lyon perked up.

"Muto…ate something? That's…that's…" Lyon hesitated. "…that's GREAT NEWS! And he ate all your food you say? We have to speak to Master Lyck at once!"

The lion-person hurried off in a certain direction, dragging the poor, hungry dragon girl by the wrist behind him.

Tear sighed.

Something told her this was going to be a very _long_ day…


	27. Meeting Master Lyck

Lyon waited patiently in front of a round-ish hut sporting a large log with a fish dangling from it. The fish had some sort of snout, like a dog's, with a bright red nose like a button.

Tear waited impatiently, if slightly confused, in front of the same hut. She swore she saw the fish wriggle in an attempt to get free.

"So…" Tear ventured. "…is this what you wanted to show me, or…?"

"Did anyone else just hear that strange whining sound?" Came a voice from inside the hut, accompanied by a loud clatter. "It certainly couldn't be that assistant I just sent for ingredients." The sarcastic comment was followed immediately with a muffled noise Tear couldn't identify.

The clattering became louder, and from the hut emerged…an anteater.

Tear blinked and rubbed her eyes to confirm she wasn't dreaming the large mammal in front of her. She wasn't, which she found slightly disappointing; there really was a large, bipedal anteater standing in front of her. An anteater with a curly mustache.

And a chef's hat.

Made of broccoli.

Yup, that was definitely going into Tear's nightmare collection. Filed right next to that creepy, deranged duck that had chased her up and down that farm when she was in Shanghai.

"Lyon, _slurp-slurp_?" The anteater spoke, flinging spittle in Tear's direction. "Who is this…small creature, _slurp-slurp_?"

"I found her by the river!" Lyon said proudly.

"I could guess that from the damp clothes, _slurp-slurp_! Who is she, _slurp-slurp_?"

"She's a girl." Lyon paused. "I found her by the river."

Both Tear and the anteater stared at Lyon for a solid minute before Tear decided to at least humor the two of them (or at least Lyon). She coughed.

"M-my name is Tear." She raised her hand politely. "I came from up above the waterfall. See, me and my friends were exploring this place…wait, that doesn't make any sense…"

Tear thought for a bit.

"Well, see, we come from this world…no, wait, I'm not really from there…and neither is Hayato for that matter…"

She thought some more.

"Anyway, there was this big door and the energy that makes up the universe told us that the big bad guy from this one world has been doing…something…so now me and my friends are exploring this river, but I fell down the waterfall and got separated and then my sandwich got stolen by your Muto friend and he wanted more but I was all, 'dude the rest is for me!', and he was all 'RAWR MOAR SANDWICHES!' and then I blacked out…for some reason…"

Lyon whistled nonchalantly.

"…and then I woke up and Lyon took me here!" Tear finished with a triumphant smile on her face. "Does that make sense?"

The anteater blinked twice.

"No, it does not."

Tear frowned.

"But, I at least get that you came with friends, so you must want to find them, correct, _slurp-slurp_?"

Tear nodded.

"I don't know any of your friends, unfortunately for you, nor do I really care, _slurp-slurp_." The anteater tossed his head back haughtily. "But you also say that Muto ate your food, correct, _slurp-slurp_?"

Tear nodded again.

"Splendid, _slurp-slurp_!" The anteater clapped his hands. "Ah, I have been rude, allow me to introduce myself, _slurp-slurp_! I am Master Lyck, owner of the Slurp House, the best restaurant on Chu Chu, also the only restaurant on Chu Chu, _slurp-slurp_!"

'A lion named Lyon and an anteater named Lyck?' Eskalade scoffed in her thoughts. 'These people have a worse naming sense than that robot guy Yuuki introduced us to.'

'Shhh…' Tear thought back angrily. 'They're talking about something.'

'Remember how he nicknamed Kyle, "Horn-head", and then proceeded to nickname you, "Nub-head"?'

'Shhh…'

'Geddit?! Because your horns are so-'

"Shhh!" Tear hissed aloud. Immediately, she flushed in embarrassment and hoped no one saw that. Luckily, Master Lyck seemed to be engrossed in telling some long-winded story, and Lyon seemed to be listening as if it were the coolest story ever.

"…and that is how I discovered that the Reedy-Weeds that grow in the island's southern bay create the best flavor for the Gumblebumberry Stew I make for Muto, _slurp-slurp_!"

Lyon nodded excitedly. "And now that Muto's eating again we can finally serve it to him!"

"Precisely, _slurp-slurp_!" Master Lyck clapped his hands together. "The island shall be saved from Gulla's wrath, huzzah!"

"Huzzah!" Lyon cheered back.

"Huzzah!" Tear joined in weakly.

"I already have a bowl prepared, as it happens, _slurp-slurp_!" Master Lyck gestured towards the hut. "Would you like a taste?"

Tear perked up at the thought of food. Real food. Not just sandwiches. Stew sounded good, although Tear didn't know what kind of stew it was, exactly. Then again, she had never had bacon until she went to Maple World, and she had loved that.

"I'd love some _slurp_!" Tear jumped up, then caught herself. "Stew. I-I mean I'd love some stew."

Seemingly oblivious, Master Lyck marched ahead, Tear and Lyon followed after.

The trio stopped in front of a large, stone bowl filled with some sort of pink, goopy liquid with a variety of strange objects thrown in the mix.

Master Lyck quickly stirred the…broth…with a spoon and fished out a small helping, holding it out for the Nova girl to try.

Tear stared at the utensil and frowned. The smell was…off. Like, Dinodon droppings off.

Reluctantly, Tear took the spoon. She hadn't really had anything since last night, and that had just been a sandwich. It couldn't be that bad, she figured, after all, the villagers ate the same food.

Closing her eyes, Tear quickly shoved the spoon into her mouth. She held it there for a moment.

"Yes, yes, it's quite good isn't it, _slurp-slurp_?" Master Lyck beamed proudly. "Let the flavors of the Slurp House's specialty dance on your tongue, _slurp-slurp_!"

Tear held the spoon in her mouth a moment longer, and swallowed, then took the spoon out of her mouth.

Master Lyck and Lyon stared at the girl expectantly.

Tear stared back at the two animal-people in silence and smiled.

She immediately turned, sprinted towards the bushes, and vomited.


	28. A rumbly tummy

Tear wiped a glob of spittle from her mouth and groaned.

"That…" Tear managed. "…was one of the most vile things I have ever put in my mouth."

Master Lyck sputtered at the remark. "You-! You-! How dare you?! This is a culinary masterpiece, _slurp-slurp_!"

Tear hunched over, afraid that if she stood up too fast she would vomit up blood, blood being the only remaining fluid she felt she possessed at the moment.

"That was as bad as Edea's cookies." Tear said slowly. "And nothing is as bad as Edea's cookies."

"How can you say such a thing?!" Master Lyck wailed dramatically. "And you claim Muto enjoyed your food?! Ridiculous, preposterous, there must have been a mistake, _slurp-slurp_!"

Tear groaned again.

"Absolutely absurd! Give me this food of yours, I must see for myself!"

Tear blinked.

"You mean…my sandwich? But this is my last piece…"

"GIVE IT TO ME!" Master Lyck shouted at the poor girl.

Tear harrumphed and pouted. "Fine! Eat it then, I'll just starve!"

She reached into her bag and produced the delectable morsel. The anteater snatched the treat out of her hands and nibbled at the end. Tear glared in jealousy.

Master Lyck chewed for a moment and then did something that scared Tear more than anything in her life. He spat the bite out.

"W-what is this! This is terrible! Absolutely disgusting!"

Tear's mouth opened and closed like a very startled fish.

"Let me try!" Lyon said cheerfully, popping Tear's poor sandwich into his mouth and chewing happily for a while. Unlike the anteater, Lyon swallowed, which made Tear happy.

"This is…" Lyon began. Tear glanced smugly at Master Lyck.

"The worst thing ever!" Lyon finished. Tear's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Wha-! Buh-!" The girl managed. "Wha-! Buh-! Whabababababa-!"

"There's no way Muto would like something this disgusting!" Master Lyck declared. "Get out of here with your tall tales, you miscreant, _slurp-slurp_!"

"Bye new-friend!" Lyon followed afterward. "That was positively disgusting!"

And with that, the two animal-people vanished into the Slurp House, leaving a very confused, very silent, and very hungry Nova girl staring off into space with her mouth hanging open.

* * *

"Stupid…Lyon…" Tear grumbled as she walked through the village. "…stupid ant-eating, slurping…what does he know, anyway? He eats _ants_. Because he's an anteater. A stupid, sandwich-stealing, ant-eating anteater…"

Her stomach growled a response.

"Ugh…wish I didn't have to remember the sandwich."

Another growl.

"Urrrrgh…my poor sandwich…"

'Whining about it isn't going to make the sandwich come back, kid.' Eskalade said in her head.

"But it will let me whine about it." Tear said aloud, not really caring if any of the weird animal-people heard her. "And not whining about it won't make the sandwich come back either!"

'I'd say suck it up and eat the stew,' Eskalade continued, 'but even I could tell how disgusting that was.'

"Eskie can't you, I dunno, fuel me with your infinite power or something?"

'Sorry, kid. My energy's tied to your soul; you need to use your energy to tap into it, like any other magic. I mean, could you imagine if magic was just infinite like that? So overpowered. Lame.'

Tear grumbled in a chorus with her stomach.

'On a completely unrelated topic, how weird is the place, am I right?'

Tear glanced at her surroundings. Compared to the lake above them, which consisted mainly of light blues, greens, and greys, this island was literally bursting with color. Every leaf of every plant seemed to have multiple patterns emblazoned on them.

Tear hated it; it gave her a headache. She wanted to be back up at the lake. With her sandwiches. Also her friends, but mostly the sandwiches. _Gods_ was she hungry.

She sat down on a log that was far too colorful for her comfort and slumped her head into her hands.

"Being this hungry reminds me of when I was an orphan in Pantheon."

'Wait, why?' Eskalade gave her a look from inside her thoughts. 'I thought you were the kind of orphan everyone teased, not the poor, hungry kind of orphan.'

"Oh shut up."

'You know, on account of the no-tail and the no-magic and those nubby little horns…'

"Eskie, I'm not in the mood to-" Tear stopped and sniffed the air. "Wait, do you smell that?"

'I'm a ghost, so, I'm gonna go with…no.'

Tear sniffed again. "That…smell…I…"

The girl got up from her seat and followed the path set by her nostrils.

* * *

The hungry Nova girl darted through a leafy, backwater part of the island, dodging trees she couldn't name and jumping over rocks that didn't quite look like normal rocks. She was following one thing:

That smell.

Tear sniffed the air again and screeched to a halt. She crouched down and peeled back a large leaf.

"Alright everyone, lunch is ready!"

"Yay!"

"Woohoo!"

"Uhuhuhu…"

One of the animal-people was stirring a large, stone cauldron. It looked like a pink…monkey, of sorts. By the sound of its voice, it appeared to be a girl. The monkey-girl tossed what looked like salt into the bubbling stew she was cooking and stirred again.

The monkey-girl climbed down to retrieve a stack of wooden bowls, before climbing back up and filling them with the soup. As she filled each bowl, she passed it down to a set of three yellow bird-like creatures wearing…eggshells? As pants?

One was wearing it as a hat, from what Tear could see.

Plucking up her courage, Tear stepped out of her hiding place and coughed quietly to get their attention.

The rag-tag group froze momentarily, a look of fear crossing the pink monkey-girl's face. She looked like she was ready to run for her life.

Tear clutched at her stomach and made a face.

"You…"

Tear immediately fell to her knees and slapped her hands together in a begging position.

"Your food smells so good! Can I please have some?! Pleeeeeeeaaaaase?!"


	29. You have weird tastes

The pink monkey girl blinked and stared at the dragon girl on the ground in front of her.

"You…want my food?" She asked, sounding entirely confused.

Tear nodded rapidly.

"My food." She repeated. "The food I made. Over there."

Another nodding session.

"R-really?"

"Pleeeease?" Tear tried her best to look doe-eyed, although she looked a bit more like a chameleon than anything else.

"I-I have a bit leftover, I suppose…"

The pink monkey wandered off to retrieve a new stone bowl from a nearby hut, before climbing up the ladder and scooping a helping of the delicious-smelling slop. After climbing back down, she reluctantly held the bowl out to the Nova girl, who quickly accepted the gift.

"P-please don't be upset if it's tastes bad…" The monkey winced slightly and covered her eyes, although she was quick to peep out from behind her fingers.

Tear inhaled deeply and sighed at the aroma. Without hesitation, she quickly put the bowl to her lips and gulped the contents down. In truth it probably hadn't been all too well-made; maybe some more salt or a touch of basil. But to a hungry Nova girl who had lost her sandwich first to a giant talking rock, second to an anteater wearing a broccoli hat, and third to an idiot lion, it may as well have been ambrosia.

After a bout of unladylike slurping and a solid minute of literally licking the bowl clean, Tear put the bowl down and belched. Loudly.

"Thank you and I love you forever." She said, a goofy grin plastered on her face.

'I am now thoroughly concerned on a number of levels.' Eskalade grumbled in her mind.

The monkey girl stared in utter shock.

"Did…did you…like it?"

Tear licked her lips and nodded.

"But…wait…then…" The monkey thought for a moment. "…you're like us, aren't you?"

"Uh…" Tear frowned, not knowing what to say. "…what do you mean by 'like you', exactly?"

"You have weird tastes!" Came a voice from across the clearing. The three bird-creatures from earlier emerged from behind a bush. No longer absorbed by hunger, Tear took a good look at them.

All three had unbelievably thick eyebrows, so they must have been siblings, or so Tear thought. One had a ring of flowers stuck in its feathers, so maybe it was the sister of the bunch? And the last one, which Tear had thought was wearing an eggshell as a hat, turned out to be…upside down…completely upside down.

'But why?' Eskalade voiced her thoughts for her.

"Weird tastes?" Tear asked, tilting her head.

"Everyone in the village makes fun of us because we have weird tastes in food." The monkey girl explained. "We don't eat the normal food they eat."

Tear scrunched up her face. "You mean that disgusting goop they made me try?"

"You do have weird tastes!" The monkey cheerfully clapped her hands together.

"Er, no," Tear said, "it's definitely their tastes that are weird. Not mine. Definitely not mine."

"But the whole village likes that food and only we like our food." She extended a hand to Tear. "I'm Simia, by the way."

"Simia." Tear repeated and grasped her hand, pulling herself to her feet. "I'm Tear."

"It's nice to meet you, Tear." Simia gave a beaming smile. She pointed to the birds. "And this is Pibik, Pimi, and Pidol."

"I'm Pibik!" Said the one with a leaf in his feathers. "Nice to meet another person with weird tastes!"

"I'm Pimi!" Said the one with flowers in her feathers.

"Uehehehe…" Said the one Tear assumed was Pidol.

Simia let out a sigh. "The villagers tend to avoid us since we have weird palates. It's not like they treat us _badly_ , or anything, but sometimes it's a bit…"

"Lonely?" Tear finished.

"A little. Most of the village is more concerned with Gulla's attacks than bullying people for having weird palates. And for good reason; Muto's been refusing Master Lyck's cooking, and if he doesn't eat something soon he won't have enough strength to fight Gulla."

"We'll be doomed!" Pibik wailed.

Tear watched as Simia hung her head and the bird-trio continued their whining. She thought for a moment, and something came to her.

"But Muto ate my sandwich recently. He won't eat Master Lyck's cooking, not that I blame him, but he seemed to enjoy my sandwich."

Simia gasped. "Muto…ate your food?!"

"That's what I said to that anteater guy," Tear explained, "but he stole the rest of my sandwich and called me a liar since he thought it tasted bad."

"But if Muto ate your food…" Simia began.

"…and you have a weird palate like us…" Pibik continued.

"Deefoodeel…" Pidol murmured thoughtfully.

"…maybe Muto has the same palate we do!" Pimi finished.

Tear grinned. "Hey, that's right! Maybe if you make Muto some of your food, he'll eat it and be able to fight off Gulla!"

Simia clapped her hands together excitedly. "Ooh, this is wonderful news!" She frowned. "Oh, but Master Lyck never lets me cook. I work in the Slurp House, but I'm only a dishwasher…"

"No way!" Tear exclaimed. "Your food is super good! Everyone I know would love to try your food!"

Tear clasped Simia's hands. "Who cares what that gross broccoli-head thinks? You can do this, Simia, I know you can!"

The pink monkey girl thought for a moment, then looked Tear right in the eye, and nodded.

"Yay!" Tear shouted.

"Woohoo!"

"Yipee!"

"Flurbleurp!"

"Since Muto really liked my sandwich," Tear said thoughtfully, "I think we should make him one of his own. One less Nova-sized and more…" She paused and made some hand gestures. "…Muto-sized!"

"Alright then!" Simia declared. "We're going to make Muto a sandwich!"

Tear and the bird-trio cheered again.

"Tear?"

"Yeah, Simia?"

"What's a sandwich?"


	30. Find and aid

"She fell off a waterfall?!" Neinheart exclaimed.

" _Ashushsushsshhhhh_!" Liuva hissed into the screen of the communication device. "If her boyfriend hears, he'll go into a fit!"

"That would seem like an appropriate response to your significant other falling off a waterfall in an uncharted land, yes." Neinheart rubbed his temples.

"Neinheart, if you tell Kyle," Yuuki commanded, "I will tell the Empress about those pictures of her you keep in your room!"

Yuuki paused triumphantly.

"I would hope she does know about them," Neinheart said, "considering she was the one who posted them. She did something similar to the chief knights' rooms as well; I recall Irena throwing a bit of a fit."

Yuuki frowned. "Can't you just let me blackmail you like a normal person?"

"Irrelevant topics aside…" Neinheart wiped his monocle on a cloth. "…it is standard practice to inform friends and loved ones when someone has gone missing."

"Don't think of her as 'missing'…" Hayato chimed in. "…think of it like…scouting ahead."

He paused.

"And I'm not just saying that because I couldn't pull her back up."

Neinheart stared blankly.

"Scouts do not jump off waterfalls to reach their destination."

Another pause.

"Maybe not the scouts _you_ know..." Hayato grumbled.

"C'mon Neinheart," Yuuki complained, "Kyle'll throw a fit if he finds out. I-I don't want him to go through that unless we're absolutely sure."

"Irrelevant; you informed me, and I must inform him."

Aran snorted from the background.

"Got something to add?" Liuva glared at the warrior.

"As a matter of fact," Aran said with mock wonderment, "I do. You people suck at dealing with bureaucrats like Neiny."

"Then you do it, Miss High-and-Mighty." Liuva gestured to the communication device the group was huddled around.

Aran gave another huff and walked over.

"Neinheart, I'm going to convince you not to tell Kyle in a single sentence."

"Lady Aran, while I respect you as a hero and as a person, as well as acknowledge the training my sister has put you through, I must follow protocol in this-"

"If you tell dragon-boy, he's gonna try and come here to rescue his princess."

The tactician shut his mouth and thought for a moment.

"That is true," He said, "Lord Kaiser is rather…tenacious, I think is the word I would use."

Finally, he relented.

"Very well, I will give you until tomorrow morning to report back on miss Tear's status. After that, I will be forced to follow protocol and inform Lord Kaiser as well as our allies in the Nova. I trust you are investigating fully?"

Aran nodded.

"Xenon's zipping around the waterfall itself, we're headed down the path now. We should reach the bottom by late afternoon."

"Then that is your mission. Please find and, should she need it, aid miss Tear. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend to; the Nova wish to discuss some recently discovered battle sites and reported vigilantism from a human explorer. It seems someone or possibly multiple someones has been taking on hordes of Specters, leaving nothing but craters and broken Specter equipment. Good luck."

And with that, the tactician's image vanished.

Yuuki, Liuva, and Hayato stared agape at Aran.

"Teach me your ways, master…" Liuva mumbled.

Aran shrugged and let out a laugh.

The group collectively turned their heads as they heard the whirring sound of a jetpack behind them.

Xenon landed lightly on the path next to his teammates. His boots sunk into the earth with a soft squish.

"Any luck?" Yuuki asked.

"I have investigated the floating rocks near the waterfall which would have been in her potential trajectory, as well as a suitable radius outside of the trajectory to account for flash jumps." Xenon recited as his wings folded up and disappeared in a flash of blue light. "The floating rocks cease approximately halfway down the falls. Accounting for Tear's mobility, I am 97.3% certain she did not land outright on any of these rocks. However, I did notice some unusual marks in one boulder which may be indication that she used her grappling hook to stabilize her descent."

Yuuki blinked.

"Er, she used one of the rocks to slow down."

"Ohh." Yuuki said. "But, she fell again?"

"Possibly intentionally." Xenon explained. "The rock with the markings was too far out of reach for her to make her way back up using her powers alone."

"What about…I dunno…a cave behind the waterfall?"

Xenon shook his head. "The cliff is solid."

Yuuki cursed lightly under his breath.

"Don't worry." Aran said reassuringly. "She'll be fine. She's the Angelic Buster, y'know? I bet she's lazing around, thinking about food right now."

* * *

"But why not use a vegetable to cover the ingredients instead of this 'bread' stuff?" Simia asked, rather confused.

"Because!" Tear exclaimed. "That's not a sandwich! Actually, that would be more of a wrap, really…"

"Ooh! Ooh!" Pimi's wing shot up. "Why don't we surround the meat…with more meat!"

"But-! No! That's not-! Ugh!" Tear threw up her hands in frustration. "Look, let me go over it one more time: you start with some bread…"

* * *

"Yeah, you're probably right…"

"I totally am." Aran said. "And besides, what's the point of fighting monsters if you don't have a little danger every now and then?"

The hero lightly punched the warrior on the arm.

"Come on, leader, let's get down there and find our friend."

Yuuki nodded and the group resumed their trek down the cliff.

* * *

"I think I get it now." Simia said. "But, now that I do, we don't have the proper ingredients for a 'sandwich', really."

"Then improvise, I suppose!" Tear said, calming down after having rigorously gone over the definition of a "sandwich" at least three times. "Your food is amazing, I'm sure Muto won't mind if it's not the exact same thing as a ham and swiss sandwich."

"What's a ham?" Pibik asked.

"What's a swiss?" Pimi asked.

"Ham is a meat and swiss is-OH WE ARE NOT DOING THIS AGAIN!" Tear snapped.

Simia chuckled nervously.

"Whatever," Tear continued, "the point is it doesn't have to be exactly the same ingredients I had, it just needs to be close to a sandwich."

"For meat we can simply use some of the Catfish that swim along the edge of the waterfall." Simia scratched her chin thoughtfully. "And we can work out extra toppings as we go along. I think I know a good substitute for this 'bread' stuff: Pinedeer!"

"Pine…deer?" Tear asked, rather confused.

"Yes, if we blend their hooves with some Ewenana peels and bake the resulting mixture, we might be able to create a texture similar to what you described."

"Oh…okay." Tear nodded, still not getting it.

"Can I trust you to gather the ingredients?" Simia asked.

"Uh, sure!" Tear said. "But, uh, I still don't know what a Pinedeer is…"

"Don't worry!" Said Pibik. "We'll go along and help point out the stuff you need! Leave it to us!"

The bird-trio mock-saluted, resulting in Pidol slapping himself.

"Oh…okay, I guess…" Tear scratched her head. "So, let's go find those Pinedeers!"


	31. Because it's a sheep, get it?

"Oh a _Pine_ deer." Tear said. "I get it now."

"Get what?" Pibik asked.

The pair was crouched behind a bush. In front of them lay a small glade in what Simia had dubbed the "Mottled Forest" where Pibik had said the Pinedeers and Ewenanas often came to graze. In the grove, a tangerine-colored creature with the body of a deer and the head of a pineapple bent down to nibble at some grass. A sheep with a banana peel in place of wool grazed next to it.

"Not sure why it's called a Ewenana, though." Tear mumbled.

"What?" Pibik asked.

"I mean, like, couldn't they have gone with 'Baanana'?"

There was a pause.

"Get it?" Tear nudged the bird. " _Baanana_?"

'Sometimes I regret my decision to bind my soul to you.' Eskalade muttered.

"Just…ugh…" Pibik sighed. "…just get the ingredients, please."

"Screw you both, that was funny!" Tear stuck her tongue out and stood up to leave.

"It really…wait, huh…both?"

A few feet from the Pinedeer, Tear transformed in a shower of pink sparklies.

"Wait WHAT?!" Pibik sputtered.

"Here little Pinedeer…" The idol cooed. "Nice deer…fruit…thing…I'm not gonna hurt you…"

Tear materialized the hilt of a star blade.

"Because this'll be quick and pain-OOF!"

The idol never got to finish her clever one-liner, unfortunately, as the Pinedeer had turned around and given the girl a swift kick to the stomach.

'Maybe it heard your pun.' Eskalade mocked. Tear wheezed out something angry and unintelligible as she fell to the ground.

The Pinedeer and Ewenana haughtily moved in front of the girl and, with the Pinedeer giving what Tear swore was a frigging smirk, kicked dust into her face before trotting off in opposite directions.

Tear groaned.

"Are…are you okay?" Pibik asked, reaching out a wing towards the girl.

The groan turned into a growl, and Tear shakily got up, her pink hair a mess.

"That's it!" She declared. "I'm killing 'em!"

Leaping to her feet, Tear summoned her hammer and hefted it behind her. Setting her feet, she launched herself, quite literally with flash jump, in the direction the Pinedeer had gone off in.

"Get back heeeeere!" Yelled the speeding pink blur as it zipped through the trees towards the little orange deer.

The deer turned around slowly and had no time to react as the butt of a gigantic hammer came crashing down on its head. There was an astonishingly loud explosion, and parts of the ground cracked within the hammer's blast range.

Tear panted as the dust settled. Sure, with a squished deer she couldn't really get the ingredients, but this was for revenge, not food. Totally different. Sighing, she lifted up the hammer.

This time the deer didn't turn around, it simply headbutted the Nova girl directly in the gut. Tear let out a small noise akin to a squeaky toy.

'But how did it-Oh!' Eskalade hummed slightly. 'I get it, they have that Arcane Power, so they have a defense against your normal power.'

"Thanks...for the…heads up…" Tear panted as she got back up. The deer snorted and squared off against the girl.

'Can't just beat it into submission, kid. Time to play smart!'

The deer scraped the ground. Letting out a high-pitched bleat, it charged again.

'Dodge left!' Eskalade shouted.

Tear did so.

'Blast it from the side!'

Tear aimed her Soul Shooter at the beast and fired off a Celestial Roar. The Pinedeer stumbled and fell to the ground.

'Direct strike from above, now!'

Tear materialized a star blade and, in one smooth motion, swung it over her head.

* * *

"So…uh…you're…um…pink now." Simia ventured.

"Oh, yeah." Tear said, piling the ingredients she had collected from her rampage onto a large leaf. "That happens."

"Oh…" Simia kicked at the ground. "So…why are you pink now, exactly?"

"A magical dragon ghost bound his soul to mine and lends me his power." Tear explained. "But in exchange I had to become a superhero."

Simia blinked.

"I…see…"

There was an awkward silence. Tear dismissed her idol form and Simia blinked again.

"Is that enough ingredients?" Tear asked.

"Whuhuh?" The monkey girl sputtered out lamely. "Oh, y-yes. This will do, give me some time to mix the ingredients before we go out to collect any more; we want them to be as fresh as possible."

Tear nodded.

"So, uh, forgive me for asking…" Simia half-mumbled as she began mashing the ingredients one-by-one in a nearby bowl. "Does…everyone turn pink where you come from?"

Tear thought for a moment.

"No, just me." She said happily. "Well, unless you count Kyle's armor or something. But his is black and red, not pink."

"Kyle? What's he like?"

"Oh he's the coolest! He's super strong, and super loyal, and he's really handsome and he has these dreamy eyes…" Tear paused mid-babble and flushed. "…please don't tell anyone I said that."

Simia let out a small grin. "You turned pink again!"

"We match!" Tear said. The pair chuckled.

Simia mashed the last ingredient into a jiggly orange paste.

"This is it for the 'bread' substitute." The monkey-girl smiled as she began pouring some other ingredients into the mixture. "What we need now is some meat. Pimi's already out trying to catch some catfish, but that alone is a bit dry and bland. We can spice it up with some ground-up Rhyturtle shells, I think. They're over by the falls on the other side of the island."

"You're the boss!" Tear saluted. "Er, chef. Boss-chef? Whatever."

Tear transformed again in another shower of sparklies and materialized a star blade before running off in the other direction.

Simia stared at the idol vanishing in the distance.

"But…why does she have to transform?"


	32. Eggs, you addlebrained buffoon

After a rather exhausting round of trips carrying both the catfish meat (since Pimi was only one little bird) and Rhyturtle shells needed to feed a giant stone creature the size of a large building, Tear collapsed to the ground and sighed. The meat needed to simmer a bit, so she at least got a little break.

Everywhere she went it was always "gather this" and "kill that". Speeyor pelts one day and Dinodon meat the next, with malicious sentient teddy bears and zombies they day after. Sometimes it felt like "hero" was a polite way of saying "errand girl".

Well, to be fair, this particular case was a bit different. How often does running errands for a chef actually save an entire island from a hungry shark monster? Actually probably more often then you think, but the point stands. Not everything has to be slain or slaughtered, sometimes it's the simple things that have the most magic of all.

'That is absolutely the cheesiest, most cliché line I have ever heard.' Eskalade complained.

'Are you reading my thoughts again?' Tear grimaced. 'I thought I told you not to do that.'

'Your life is my soap opera,' the dragon huffed, 'and until I can figure how to install apps or something in here it's TearTV, 24/7/365 for me.'

'You are not installing apps in my…' Tear paused, then paled. '…w-wait, d-does that mean you saw the beach dream?'

'24/7 is a bit of an exaggeration, I have better things to do than- wait, beach dream?'

'So, you didn't see the part about the maiiiii…' Tear trailed off, her instinct telling her to stop.

'May...may what?! What didn't I see?! Why didn't I see this?!' Eskalade exclaimed. 'Tell me, tell me now!'

'No.'

'Aw come on…'

'No.'

'Pleeeeeeeeaaase?'

"I said no, Eskie!" Tear snapped, then covered her mouth. Thankfully, Pimi and Pibik were too busy helping Simia fry the catfish meat to notice the crazy girl talking to an invisible dragon that existed only in her mind.

 _Pidol_ , on the other hand…

"Uehehehe…"

Tear scrambled backwards away from the bird. Not to be rude and all, but man was he creepy.

"Flavor…hehe…eggs be good…"

"Huh?" Tear asked, extremely confused and slightly concerned for her sanity considering she was actually trying to enter into a conversation with Pidol.

"E…Egg…Eggy-eggy-egg"

"C-come again?"

Pidol's upside-down brow furrowed.

"I _said_ …" Pidol huffed. "…I wish you to procure some eggs, you addlebrained buffoon! Perhaps if you merely tried _listening_ for a change…" The bird let out an exasperated sigh.

Tear gaped.

"WAIT WAIT WAIT, y-you can speak normally?!" She sputtered.

"Hehehe, speak…I speak good…hehe…egg patty is yummy…heeheehee…"

Tear stared in utter shock.

'E-Eskie…what I think he did...did...did he just do that?' Tear asked in a desperate attempt to maintain her sanity.

'Hmm?' The dragon mumbled. 'Sorry I wasn't paying attention, what're we talking about?'

Simia approached the pair holding a strip of meat she had evidently been using in a taste test.

"It's good so far," she said, "but I think it could use some toppings. Pidol is good with this kind of thing, he should be able to help you find the right ingredient to use." With that, Simia wandered off to work on the sandwich a bit more.

Tear let out a small whimper and glanced at the bird.

"Twen…twenny…twent…twenty…feaaaathers…"

"Twenty…feathers…?" Tear repeated slowly. "But, you said you wanted eggs, right?"

"Hmph." Pidol crossed his wings. "How dare you belittle me. I needn't explain my logic to such an ignoramus."

Tear opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it.

"Simia?" Tear asked instead. "Where would I find…feathers?"

"Feath…oh, Crilla feathers!" Simia didn't look up from the mixture she was stirring. "The Crillas go up near the peak of Sky Whale Mountain to roost. Some of their feathers would be perfect as a topping!"

Simia finally looked up from her busywork.

"See, I told you Pidol would come up with something good, didn't I?"

Tear nodded and gave a weak thumbs up, and then left to find some…feathers.


	33. The Slurpy Tree

Tear watched as Simia mashed the feathers together until they formed a gooey–

"Oh a _paste_!" Tear exclaimed. "That's why it would taste like eggs."

"Oh eggs!" Simia chirped. "That might be a good–"

"No." Tear declared. "Not going up there again. Those things were _creepy_."

"But–"

"And you didn't mention the flying sharks!" She snapped. "Or the weird floaty stream things! A shark bit my butt! While I was 30 feet in the air!"

Tear heard Eskalade snicker and she growled lightly in response, rubbing away a pain in her lower thigh.

Simia knit her brows. "Well…I suppose that would make it too eggy…Pidol does tend to like his food like that, but we're making this for Muto, so maybe it's best we didn't add any Birdshark eggs to this."

Tear sighed in relief.

"But there is one last thing we need…"

Tear briefly pondered if she could hit herself with her Celestial Roar.

"The Slurpy Tree fruit should provide the final zest for our sandwich." Simia said. "It grows deep in the Bitty-Bobble Forest."

Simia handed Tear a small leaf, on which was drawn a picture of a tiny fruit.

Tear stared at the drawing. "That's it? Pick fruit from a tree?"

"Well…" Simia hesitated. "…you have to pick it with the stem intact, since that's the tastiest part, and–"

"No flying gorillas? No banana sheep? No rhinoceros turtles?" Tear's grin grew wide. "I can do that! No problem!"

"Well, yes, but–"

"Haha! This'll be cake! Bitty-Bobble Forest, awaaay!"

And with that, she left.

Simia blinked twice.

"Oh…oh dear…"

* * *

Tear stared.

It was an odd-looking tree. It looked a lot like a beanstalk, except it had a bulbous green head surrounded by a yellow mane, just like she had seen on those Flyon creatures she passed on her way here. The bottom was wrapped in a blueish vine which stretched itself out to form two more round shapes; one red, the other purple, both covered in spikes. A handful of mushrooms sprouted from the top of the main stem, and in the middle of the very tippy-top of the plant sat a single, turquoise vine. And from that vine sprouted a small fruit.

The Slurpy Fruit. At long last; after hours of tedious ingredient gathering Tear's prize was finally in sight.

Maybe, if she were lucky, Simia would give her some extra sandwiches for her hard work.

'Hey, dummy, you're getting spit all over your shoes.' Eskalade scolded.

Tear wiped her mouth.

'Still though…' The dragon said thoughtfully. 'I got a funny feeling.'

"Eskie you worry too much." Tear scoffed. "Now then…"

Tear gripped one of the blue vines on the tree.

"Slurpy Fruit ahooooooy-oooooh this feels weird." Tear's smile morphed into a frown.

'Weird as in…?'

"I…I think it just moved…" Tear whispered hoarsely.

It had just moved. Specifically, it had shifted the blue vine Tear had grabbed away from her grip.

Then, it turned around. The large, bulbous head, as it turns out, also possessed a set of very sharp, crooked teeth, as well as a pair of angry, glowing eyes.

Tear wisely released her hand.

The very large Slurpy Tree glared downward at the very small Nova girl, and then let out a very loud roar, showing off what was behind the very sharp, crooked teeth to the very small Nova girl.

The very small Nova girl let out a very pathetic-sounding noise.

Forcing as much of her power as she could through her feet, Tear blasted herself backwards with a flash jump just as the tree slammed its red "hand" into the spot where she had just been.

To Tear's surprise (and further horror), both the red and purple "hands" had faces of their own. With decidedly sharper teeth to boot.

'I'd say I told you so…' Eskalade said. '…but I honestly didn't see this coming. I was expecting like, a guardian. Not Ugly McPlantface over there.'

"Any suggestions?!" Tear shouted as she fired off several shots from her shooter. The energy balls bounced harmlessly off the trunk, and the tree roared in response.

'Don't just shoot it, you'll make it angry.'

Tear let out a torrent of words that would make the Black Mage himself turn aside and blush. Eskalade went on a tirade about idols and certain language.

Tear could feel her anger rising. First it was the stupid ingredient gathering fighting the stupid-looking monsters to make a stupid sandwich for a stupid stupid _stupid_ …

'…honestly even if you're not an idol, that word was really just rude on the face of it and furthermore…'

And now she was listening to a stupid lecture from a stupid, _useless_ dragon stupid god _stupid stupid_ …

The Slurpy Tree roared and slammed both hands into the ground, causing it to crack. A fine mist erupted from the broken chunks of rock; part of the river must have been directly below.

…all the while dodging stupid attacks from a stupid tree to get a stupid fruit when all she really wanted was for both the _stupid_ tree and the _stupid_ dragon to–

" **SHUUUUUT…** " Tear screeched.

There was a pause in which no sound could be heard. For a brief moment, the tension combined with the magic in the air to form an almost tangible substance; as if the entire grove had been encompassed in some sort of angry water balloon.

And then it popped.

" **-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!** " Tear felt power rip through her body and explode out her back from between her wings. The energy erupted outward, dimming from a typical pink into blacks and purples as well. The air above the girl shimmered and for a split second, all the rouge energy coalesced into an image of a room backed by stars. The dragon of the Pantheon temple sat in the middle, the gem on its forehead glowing brighter.

And brighter.

And brighter.

The Slurpy Tree roared again, but the noise was drowned out by the sheer force being emitted by the dragon.

And in another split-second, the image and the force emitted by it was gone, leaving the grove eerily quiet, as well as a slight ringing in the ethereal ears of Eskalade.

But the Slurpy Tree wasn't finished, and so neither was Tear.

The girl focused her remaining energy on her Soul Shooter, and the device transformed, as it usually did when she summoned a weapon. But this was new; a small heart formed a handle, and from it extended a wide, pink cylinder. The end of the cylinder opened up with three panels. Tear hoisted the device up and pointed it at the Slurpy Tree.

There was a noise like the sound of bells ringing, followed by the loud clunk of equipment powering up.

And in a blast of multi-colored light, the spotlight turned on.

The grove was illuminated in a spectacle of colors that blotted out the sun. The Slurpy Tree felt the full brunt of the attack, and let out one last weakened roar, before collapsing to the ground.

Tear panted as her spotlight vanished.

"Wha…what was that?" She sputtered.

Eskalade was silent for a moment.

'W-well!' The dragon coughed, his voice an octave higher than usual before he corrected himself. 'Well! You found a new way to use my power with that spotlight thing. Pretty neat, if I do say so myself!'

Tear blinked.

"R-really? Wow…" The girl grinned as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "And the other spell too! With the dragon and everything! Two new powers in one day! I know I don't say this as often as I should, but your power is really awesome, Eskie!"

Eskalade paused.

'But…that first one…wasn't me…?' He mumbled mentally.

"Huh, did you say something?" Tear asked as she yanked at the fruit on top of the fallen Slurpy Tree.

'N-nothing! Nothing at all…' Eskalade smiled. 'Nice work, kid!'


	34. Taste test

Pimi sighed as she wrapped a bandage around one of Tear's many scrapes.

"This is all because you ran off before Simia could finish explaining that the Slurpy Tree was a _man-eating_ tree, you know that, right?"

Tear looked away and whistled slightly. Pimi sighed again.

"That was so cool, though!" Pibik exclaimed. "That whole _rooooooaaaar_ ka- _booooom_ zeeeeer _oooounsh_!"

The tiny bird continued making various gestures with his wings.

"It was rather impressive." Simia said as she dripped the juice of the Slurpy Fruit onto the sandwich, which now stood twice the size of the monkey girl herself. "Where did you learn to do that, may I ask?"

"Ehehe…" Tear rubbed her neck sheepishly. "It's not that impressive. Those skills I just thought up on the fly, actually."

Simia blinked. "B-but…how?! That kind of magic is…I mean…how do you just think that kind of thing up on the fly?!"

"Well it's…" Tear hesitated. "…I'm not sure how to describe it. I'm not a magician or anything, so it's not like I understand how it works. It's just…y'know…magic!"

"But…for something that complex…" Simia hesitated on her words.

"W-well, sometimes things don't have a complicated explanation. Sometimes the answer is just… _magic_. I mean, people _look_ for an answer, but that doesn't mean they're going to _get_ one, and it doesn't mean the answer you do get is going to be satisfying to hear."

Tear took a breath.

"Magic is…magic; sure sometimes there's things you can and can't do or special ways to go do something or… _not_ do something, but sometimes there's things that defy explanation. It's not because those un-explainable things are rule-breaking or overpowered or out of nowhere, it's just that they're a mystery, and, well, not all mysteries need to be solved. Like, if life were a story, it'd be pretty boring if you spent half the book explaining how gravity makes things fall just so you could make the main character fall off a cliff at some point, right?"

Tear scratched an itch on her nose.

"I mean, if you want to look for an explanation, maybe it's the Erda Flow giving me and my friends a power-up. We met the Flow and they – him, her, it, whatever – asked for our help, so maybe that's it. Or maybe it's like Eskalade's power inside me and my mind gave it a cool shape which just happened to work out. Either way, I'm just thankful for the new skill. So, rather than go off in search of _why_ I can do what I did, I'd rather just focus on doing what I did _again_ , so I can make the world a better place by doing it."

Tear blinked.

"Does that make sense?"

Simia paused.

"I guess." She said. "Still, it's kinda…convenient, don't you think?"

"Probably." Said Tear. "But hey, convenient's not _bad_ , is it?"

Simia smiled and glanced back at her work.

"Alright, I think the sandwich is done now. Just to be sure, I've whipped up some samples for us to taste-test." Simia picked up a small stone plate of miniaturized sandwiches and held them out for the group to try. "T-tell me what you think, p-please."

All at once, Tear and the three birds picked up their respective mini-sandwiches…and took a bite.

Tear paused, then immediately shoveled the remainder of her sandwich into her mouth.

"T-this is amazing!" She exclaimed after swallowing everything. "It's like an explosion of happy in my mouth!"

"So tasty!" Pibik chirped. "So…so…it's so _tasty_!"

"This is the best thing I've ever had!" Pimi concurred. "I'm serious! I've never had anything this good!"

"This taste…" Pidol licked his beak. "…it's simply divine! That heavenly harmony of flavors…that crisp, yet chewy texture…it's as though the five tastes were having a party, and there comes a knock at the door, and in walks a sixth, as-yet undiscovered flavor! My taste buds are overwhelmed!"

Simia beamed a happy grin.

"Now we can give it to Muto," said Tear, "and he'll finally eat something!"

As quickly as it formed, the smile disappeared.

"Ah…I…" Simia glanced away. "…I don't know…I didn't think this far ahead, but…there's no way Master Lyck would let me give this food to Muto. He probably has something prepared anyway…"

Tear frowned. "But you're not making this food for Lyck. You're making it for Muto."

Tear grabbed the monkey girl lightly by the shoulders.

"Simia…" Tear said calmly. "…your food is good. You shouldn't be discouraged from making something you like. Especially by that stubborn, long-tongued jerk. Muto will love your sandwich, I know it."

Simia rubbed her eyes slightly.

"Y-you're right!" She said. "I-I can't lose hope now!"

Straightening her apron, Simia pointed dramatically towards the shoreline.

"Let's go!" She said. "To Muto!"

…

"So…" Tear hesitated. "…how do we get the sandwich over to the shoreline?"

Simia's expression blanked.

"Can't…can't you, I dunno, levitate it or something?"

"I'm not Kinesis." Tear said. "So, no."

"But…but the whole speech…about convenient magic…"

Pibik sighed, and waddled off to go borrow one of the large carts Master Lyck used to transport his food to Muto.


	35. Lunch time, Muto!

You could cut the tension with a butter knife.

Master Lyck stood there, on the river's edge, shooting a glare at his dishwasher.

Simia stood there, on the river's edge, staring determinately into the eyes of her mentor.

Tear stood there, kinda sleepy.

Master Lyck broke the silence first.

"I'd ask you what you're doing here," he sighed, "but I can probably guess. So, I'll just go right ahead and point out how foolish this is."

Simia frowed. "Please, Master Lyck, I know you don't like my food, but Muto–"

"If Muto won't eat my food it stands to reason he won't eat yours, slurp-slurp!" Lyck snapped. "Especially with your weird tastes."

"Now, now…" Lyon said, trying to calm the two sides down. "They have weird tastes, sure, but just because they're complete weirdos who like terrible food doesn't make them bad people."

Tear opened her mouth to retort but Eskalade mentally cut her off.

'Just take the compliment.' He said.

"Regardless!" Lyck crossed his arms. "This is just a pointless waste of time! This stew is my greatest creation yet, there's no way Muto won't love it, slurp-slurp!"

"Oh come on!" Tear spoke up. "At the very least it's not like it'll make it worse, right? Let's let Muto decide what he likes."

"I did not say you couldn't!" Lyck snapped again. "Only that it is a waste of time to compete with my marvelous creation, slurp-slurp!"

Lyon shrugged. "He's right, he did say that."

Tear rolled her eyes.

Simia turned to the large stone creature who had been sitting in the river this entire time, with a dull expression on its rocky face.

"Muto! We've come to give you your meal!" The monkey girl shouted cheerfully. "Please, pick the one you like!"

Muto turned and stared at the group. He glanced at the stew. Then the sandwich. Then the stew.

Curiously, Muto leaned in to sniff at the bowl containing Master Lyck's stew.

"Ha!" Lyck scoffed. "I told you it was a futile–"

Muto's eyes narrowed into a glare.

"NO EAT!" He boomed. "ICKY!"

Master Lyck sputtered out something incomprehensible.

"Muto!" Simia called again. "We have something else for you to try!"

The girl motioned towards the large sandwich.

"Tell us what you think!"

The stone giant once again sniffed the creation, then slowly reached out of the water and grabbed the sandwich with both hands. He took a small nibble.

Muto's eyes widened, and the nibble was replaced with him wolfing down the delectable treat.

"TH…THIS IS…GOO…GOOD!" He bellowed as he polished off the meal.

Master Lyck stared in shock.

"B-but…b-b-but…the stew…"

"Incredible!" Lyon exclaimed. "Muto is eating again!"

The stone giant finished inhaling his meal. All said and done, he let out a thunderous belch that shook the island.

"So…tasty…" He muttered contentedly.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Tear whipped herself around to see a gigantic shadow tower above the island, blotting out the sun. As her eyes adjusted to the shade, she could make out several features.

Sharp teeth.

Fins the size of houses.

Sharp teeth twice the size of Tear.

Oh gods…so many teeth…

Muto hummed slightly.

"I…go play with Gulla now." He said, and stood up.

Tear hadn't really gotten a good account of how big Muto had been when she first saw him. Both he and Gulla must have been half the size of the island itself.

"H-how deep is this river?!" Tear exclaimed to no one in particular.

Her objections went unnoticed, however, as the villagers were all staring in awe as their "little baby" Muto fought off the giant shark creature.

Soon, Tear gave in as well, and began watching the fight unfold.

* * *

" **HOLY BLACK MAGE IN A BATHING SUIT** ," Aran shouted, " **WHAT THE _HELL_ IS THAT THING?!** "

The five explorers stared agape as a gigantic creature rose from the water. From their perch on the cliffs they had an excellent view as the monster towered over the central island covering it in shade. It was shark-like, and the group could make out a set of jagged, pointy teeth.

"B-by my estimates," Xenon managed, "that creature is over 300 meters tall."

"How big is this river, anyway?!" Liuva exclaimed.

"Look!" Hayato pointed. "S-something else is coming!"

And lo a second figure rose out of the water, this one vaguely human-like, were it not for the square head and body. It appeared to be as tall as the first, and it slowly began striding along towards the first creature and the two quickly locked themselves in a struggle.

"Th-they are fighting!" Xenon announced.

"We can't fight something that big…" Aran bit her lip. "…and we don't know which one we ought to fight anyway."

"W-what do we do?" Liuva asked.

Yuuki panicked at the decision, but made his choice quickly and started into a full-out sprint down the remainder of the trail.

"Tear!" He shouted as he ran. "We have to find Tear! Quickly!"

There was a handful of nods and grunts of approval, and the group set off running down the mountain.


	36. Flaring up

"What is with this place and giant things?!" Yuuki wondered aloud as he ran. "First the giant evil worm, now a giant evil shark!"

"What about the giant rock?!" Liuva yelped as she nearly tripped over a small bush.

"The giant rock's punching the giant shark!"

Hayato yelped as he swiftly cut through a creature in his path that looked astonishingly like a deer with a pineapple for a head.

"I feel as though I should evaluate the life choices that led to today…" Hayato mumbled.

"Less talky more looky!" Aran snapped. "Any sign of Tear?!"

"It is a bit difficult considering we do not know where she is." Xenon said, as he dodged a small boulder in his path.

"She's gotta be around here somewhere!" Yuuki shouted, glancing around.

"How do we even know?!" Hayato exclaimed. "Wouldn't she be running _away_ from the giants?!"

Yuuki took a moment to think about this, and immediately collided with a tree.

The group simultaneously skidded to a halt near their comrade, who had fallen to the ground with an unceremonious "whump".

"I…" Yuuki muttered, rubbing his bruised head. "...did not think of that…"

"So we were just running towards the giant monsters in the hope that she'd be there?" Aran crossed her arms.

"Hey in my defense, this is _Tear_ we're talking about." Yuuki grumbled. "And none of us are trackers either. 'Balanced team' my foot…I swear I'm gonna stab Neinheart when we get back."

"What, you want to climb back up the waterfall and tag-out for a mage instead?" Aran huffed.

"I wouldn't _not_ do it." Yuuki huffed back. "I mean, does any one of us know how to heal?"

"No."

"Nah."

"Does first aid count?"

"I am more of the hack-and-slash variety, actually."

There was a pause.

"Oh boy," Liuva rubbed her eyes, "we're charging towards two island-sized monsters without any sort of reset button on hand."

"That's it…" Yuuki sighed in exasperation. "Stabbing is too good for Neinheart. When we get back, I'll need a fishing rod, a jar of barbecue sauce, and a harmonica."

"You are going to use Neinheart as bait for some sea creature?" Hayato asked. "But, what is the point of the harmonica?"

"Using him as shark bait would also be too good for him." Yuuki grumbled. "And as for the harmonica…I'm gonna say, 'half-time entertainment'…"

"Can we go back to the important topic?!" Aran snapped. "We can yell at half-glasses later, let's focus on finding Tear first!"

"You're right." Yuuki said as he stood up. "Buuut…I don't know how to find her, because, full-circle, _I'm not a tracker_."

"You're thinking about it too literally." Aran sighed. "We might not be able to track her down, but we could send up a flare and let Tear find us, or at least signal us back."

"But the monsters–" Liuva started.

"The monsters won't notice us." Aran finished. "We're _literally_ ants to them."

"She's got a point." Yuuki said, then thought for a moment. "Liuva, send up a flare. Xenon, you hover over the treeline slightly and see if you can spot a response of some kind."

Xenon nodded and took off. Liuva bit her lip anxiously, but began charging her gauntlet anyway. In one swift motion, she punched straight upward with a loud "bang", and a few seconds later there was a larger, much louder "bang" as the makeshift flare went off.

The group waited with baited breath.

"Anything yet?" Yuuki asked Xenon.

"With all due respect," the cyborg said, "it has been all of ten seconds since–"

He was interrupted by a second bang, this time further in the distance.

"I see her."

"Where is she?"

"On the island closest to the giant monsters."

He paused a beat.

"Should we–"

"Yes."

The group collected themselves, and then continued their sprint towards their friend.

* * *

As Gulla and Muto's clash echoed across the heavens like thunder, Tear stood staring at the giants with a triumphant smirk on her face.

"Well Master Lyck," she said, "seems like Muto liked the food after all."

She heard no response.

"I hope you'll at least treat Simia with a little more respect now."

" _Sniff…_ "

"Huh?"

Tear turned around.

Was…was he crying?!

"WAAAAAAH!" Master Lyck wailed, confirming Tear's suspicions. "I'M SO SORRY, SIMIA!"

Lyon patted the head chef on the back.

"From now on, I will give you the recognition you deserve…" The anteater wiped his eyes as he continued. "As Muto's personal chef!"

"R-really?" Simia asked, startled. "That's…TH-THANK YOU SO MUCH!"

As the group joined together for a comfort-hug, an odd "bang" echoed across the clearing. Tear turned and noticed a bright orange light sparkling for a few seconds before vanishing. Tear thought for a moment, until…

"Ah!" She gasped. "That looks like...like Liuva!"

As her words sunk into her brain, her expression changed to one of pure glee.

"It's LIUVA!" She exclaimed. "And-and the others too! They're here!"

'Hey, kid!' Eskalade chimed in. 'Send up a response!'

"Ah! Right, right!"

Tear summoned her Soul Shooter, and quickly shot up a second, pinker flare to match the one she saw.

"What's a 'Liuva'?" Simia asked. "Someone is coming?"

"My friends!" Tear clapped her hands together. "I can't wait for you all to meet them!"

"Well," said Lyon, "even if they're weirdos like you, we'll be sure to welcome them to our village!"

"Especially now!" Said Pibik. "Muto's eating again!"

"We should celebrate!" Pimi chirped.

"Buhuhuh…party!" Pidol mumbled.

And like that, the celebration began.


	37. Party Hard

"Three cheers for fending off Gulla!" Lyon raised his glass.

"Hooray!" The crowd cheered once and the chattering resumed, everyone too excited to cheer multiple times.

The tables sat divided, but only with regard to the food piled on them. Both Simia and Master Lyck had thrown together feasts worthy of being called feasts; one for the normal eaters, and one for those with weird tastes. Whichever ones those were in the end. It was a fairly welcome break to Neinheart's packed rations either way.

Tear sat, gushing to Liuva about how she took on the man-eating Slurpy Tree, although according to the Nova girl the tree was significantly larger than anything the group had seen so far and probably breathed fire to boot.

Hayato had already apologized profusely for having lost his grip. Tear let the Bladed Falcon off scot free, save for a small punishment. Suffice to say, when the group finally got around to going back home, a video of a samurai in full armor dancing like a chicken was soon to go viral.

Yuuki was off describing Maple World to Simia; an entire world of people with weird tastes! The monkey girl couldn't believe it. Not to mention the potential for so many new ingredients…how might Yeti meat mix with Wolffruit? Would roasting on Flame Golem cores taste differently compared to a normal fire? Simia practically begged for Tangyoon's noodle recipe.

Aran leaned back in her chair and sighed. Such a long day. The group – sans Tear – had spent the entire time walking down a cliff with nothing interesting on it save a few odd-looking plants. And as for Tear, well…Tear had gone through what Tear had gone through. Aran wasn't sure if she pitied the girl for having gone through so much, or envied her for hogging all the action.

Seriously! Not a single monster on the path! It was dirt. Dirt and rocks. It was like walking down Luminous's sense of humor.

Pretty waterfall, though.

Aran kicked her feet up as she watched as the lucky girl who had fallen down a waterfall continued to blab on and on about how many monsters she killed down here, all for the sake of making a sandwich.

"She's gonna go far I think." Aran murmured.

"Yeah," said a new voice, "I think so too."

The warrior hero fell out of her chair with an undignified yelp.

"Ha!" Eskalade laughed. "That's what you get for trying to act cool!"

Aran grumbled an insult in the dragon's general direction. Xenon wandered after hearing the confusion and offered a helping hand, which the warrior begrudgingly accepted.

"May I ask what you're doing, Eskalade?" Xenon asked.

"Partying." The dragon answered bluntly. "Can't a mystical Nova god get out of the relic in which his soul is sealed and stretch his wings from time to time?"

"I am not too familiar on the details of sealing magic," Xenon said, "but to my knowledge if your seal is akin to that of a class-C relic-focused–"

"The answer is yes," Eskalade interrupted, "I can do that, because I'm doing that right now. Par-tay people!"

He did a little jug from the shoulders up.

"Really?" Aran asked with a smirk. "And how is the mightily wise and oh-so-powerful Nova 'god' going to 'par-tay' when his incorporeal hand passes right through all the food and booze?"

Eskalade glared.

"Fine, miss smarty-pants hero," he sighed, "I have a real question for you."

"Shoot." Aran said, half-seriously.

"These new-fangled powers you're playing with like toys…would you call them magic?"

Aran blinked.

"Uh, duh." She said. "What else would it be? You think this is some hackneyed sci-fi thing where the Erda are nani-whatevers?"

"Nano." Xenon corrected. "The prefix 'nano-' meaning 'one-billionth', referring to, in such sci-fi 'clichés', nano-machines, a variant on nano-bots which…"

"That's not what I meant!" Eskalade snapped. "I know what magic is and this stuff…I dunno…it feels…different, but the same."

"I mean…" Aran hesitated. "…Erdas are like the energy that makes up the entire world, right? Magic makes up the world too, but like, if magic is a building block of the world, then these powers are like…slightly…smaller…building blocks."

Aran gestured around a bit hoping to get the idea across, but eventually gave up.

"What I mean is," she said, "there's no point in classifying it as not-magic or even as a 'special' magic, because that would imply that it's…well…not magic. But it is. It's basically magic, anyway. If you want to assign labels to things then go call it 'proto-magic' or 'primal-magic' or 'super-mega-doo-dad-magic'. I don't care what you call it, because when you're fighting someone with it, they're not going to care about what you call it either."

"The energy is different," Xenon clarified, "but no more different than the variants that already exist. It is about as different as healing magic is compared to fire magic, or ice magic compared to technopathy. As interesting as it may be to have discovered such a new category, the difference itself is not particularly important."

"Again," said Eskalade, "not really the point. I just wanted verification of…something."

"Verification of what?" Xenon asked.

"Er, well, you know how Tear said she couldn't use magic on her own?"

The pair nodded.

"Tear can use magic on her own."

Xenon blinked this time.

"Because of the Erdas, you mean?" He asked. "If you did reclassify Erdas as a new brand of magic or even a 'proto'-brand of magic, that would make some sense for her condition, I suppose."

"Wait…" Aran gave Eskalade a look. "…you're not worried about her, are you? Like, you're not thinking the Erdas are some kind of poison and want Tear to be safe?"

"No..." Eskalade said. "I can tell the Erdas are safe, I just–"

"Are you jealous?"

"No!" He huffed. "I'm not…ugh, never mind. I just thought you'd be able to help clarify some things. Especially robo-boy, since he came up with the whole 'Arcane Force measurement' dealie."

Xenon blinked.

"I am going to be completely honest with the both of you," the cyborg said, "The Arcane Force measure has been largely irrelevant since we left the town on the Lake of Oblivion. Tear herself has not increased her Arcane Force by any significant amount in the course of this particular adventure."

Eskalade scratched his ghostly chin.

"So, what you're saying is those numbers you gave back on the lake are…"

"Bunk." Aran finished.

"Complete bunk." Xenon said. "There is no historical, magical, or scientific basis for a practical application of 'measuring' power. Magic power itself can be measured in any number of ways, ranging from energy output like watts or volts, to units of force like Newtons or pounds, even to things like monetary value, in certain albeit admittedly bizarre circumstances. You can measure it because it has an impact on the real world, and that impact can be measured."

He took a deep breath before continuing.

"But there's no reason to." Xenon continued. "Measuring magic doesn't really mean anything since magic can do, quite literally, anything. If you're trying to make electricity with magic, then measuring the amount of heat a spell can make isn't going to tell you anything. Measuring the amount of electricity it can produce would be helpful, but in most real-world applications, magic is either too wild to determine exactly what should be measured, or so mundane that most people simply do not bother, as the answer is obvious."

"And in combat," Aran went on, "it's even stupider to measure things. Being able to put out a million, billion volts of electricity isn't going to help when your opponent can fry you where you stand with fire powers, now is it?"

"Then why make the measurement?" Eskalade asked.

Xenon shrugged.

"I found something new." He said. "It helps to recognize that we are growing in strength. In addition, I was able to determine that Arcane Force acts as a shield; those who have it take less damage than those who don't. The numbers were mostly a byproduct of my internal programming attempting to assign a value to that which has no measurable value. Or, at the very least, has no useful one. Basically, what we've learned from my measurements is that having Arcane Force is what matters, not necessarily how much of it we, personally, have."

Eskalade nodded, soaking in the exposition.

"Well, either way," he said, "don't tell Tear what I told you. The spell she cast seemed pretty unique, and I don't want to goad her into trying to make new spells when I'm honestly not even sure how she managed to cast the first one."

Aran nodded.

"Solid." She said. "Now, I believe I mentioned there being booze, earlier…"


	38. A Great Power

With the celebrations finished, the group had set their sights further downstream. Chu Chu was an island, and so the only way to continue the group's journey was to set themselves adrift on a boat down the stream and, well, basically hope they found something interesting.

Also, possibly more importantly, basically pray to whoever was listening that whatever interesting thing they found didn't kill them on-sight.

And so, the villagers and the explorers gathered for one final goodbye, on the shores next to Muto's resting spot.

"So…" Yuuki hesitated as he sorted some of the odd foodstuffs Simia had packed the group. "…you guys don't know anything about the Black Mage?"

"Never heard of him," Lyon said. "but, I mean, I don't know much."

"Yeah, you don't." Yuuki said absentmindedly before pausing.

"Wait, what?"

"I don't know much!" Lyon said, more proudly than he ought to.

"Uh…"

"None of us remember much about where we came from," Simia explained, "we can remember waking up on the island, but nothing beyond that."

"We lost our memories of our origin," Pidol chirped from his spot at the table, "but you aren't like us. It is as though you are under the guardianship of a great power…"

"A great power…" Yuuki flexed his fingers slightly, immediately feeling stupid for doing so.

Lots of people had "great power". If Yuuki had a meso for every person who had some ability foretold by some prophecy or another, he could buy out Ereve from the Empress herself. To say nothing of the dozens of "special artifacts" that seemed to pop up everywhere. Such was the nature of a magical world.

And, truth be told, Yuuki was never one to put much faith into destiny. Lots of people liked to blame things on the future having been foretold; sure, people like Spiruna or Rhinne could peek into the future, and Abraxus wasn't called the "Watchful God" for no reason, but people claim they can predict the weather too, and look how accurate those forecasts are.

No, the future was murkier than that; a fortune teller could predict likely events, but those only exist as likelihoods, not as fact. Sure, those prophecies can have their uses from time to time…but if the life one was to lead had already been set in stone long before they had ever existed, what joy would there be in doing anything? If destiny were real, what point would there be in overcoming it?

And yet, Yuuki felt a growing urge in the pit of his stomach. Something shouting at him internally to get his attention. Screaming out in every direction that some gear in some grand machine had finally started moving.

Was it the first gear to move, or the last? Did it matter?

Destiny might not be real, but that doesn't make hearing about fate any less scary.

"Yuuki?"

The voice snapped the warrior out of his thoughts.

"Hm? Ah, sorry, I zoned out for a second there."

Simia nodded.

"We wanted to give this to Tear, but since she's…" The pair cast a sideways glance to the dragon girl, who had promptly passed out after such a long day and was currently being piggy-backed by Aran (because, as it turns out, rock beats scissors). The girl in question let out an embarrassingly loud snore. "…well, anyway, here."

Simia handed Yuuki a small object; a sphere as smooth as glass, with a pink flower bulb on the inside that seemed to always face the person staring at it, no matter how you turned it.

Yuuki blinked.

"This is an Arcane Symbol." He said bluntly.

"Is that what it is?" Simia asked. "We didn't really know what it was, we just wanted you to have it."

"I…" Yuuki hesitated. "…thank you."

Simia smiled and stepped back.

The group of explorers settled down in the makeshift raft, shaped like a large, curled leaf.

"Bye guys!" Liuva cheered. "See you around!"

"Thanks for the party!" Aran mock-saluted.

Tear snored again.

The raft was set free, and the current began to separate the newly-found friends. Each side continued waving until the river rounded a small bend and the villagers disappeared from view entirely.

Yuuki frowned as he lowered his arm and he stared at the Arcane Symbol. Hayato examined the offending object from his side.

"What are you thinking?" The samurai asked.

"I'm thinking," Yuuki said, "that I don't know what to think.

He held up the symbol and it glinted in the sunlight.

"This object, this symbol…the Black Mage…the birth of Chu Chu Island…" Yuuki huffed. "…they're all connected. Us as well, we're connected to it somehow too. That island…it was as if a bunch of different Erdas were mixed together and…"

Yuuki trailed off.

"Do you ever feel like we're…what is the phrase…in over our heads?" Hayato asked.

"All the time," Yuuki said, "nothing bad ever comes from overachieving, except maybe you bite off more than you can chew and wind up needing help. The real problem is when you're facing a challenge exactly at your difficulty level."

"Why is that?"

The Arcane Symbol glowed slightly, and disappeared in a flash of light.

"Because when that happens, nobody expects you to fail."


	39. Downstream

"Combining different creatures together?" Neinheart's voice drawled through the computer screen.

"That's what we think." Yuuki said.

It was a bit odd, looking at the conference table from the computer's angle. Everyone seemed a bit taller and lankier than usual. But it was the only way to get everyone in on the conversation. It didn't help that every time the boat hit a small rock, Yuuki was thrown off his seat.

"Do you think this is related to what Kinesis described?" Athena asked. "His White Mage attempted to merge the worlds."

"He half-succeeded, if briefly." Grendel corrected. "The worlds began blending into each other."

"The commanders mentioned something similar when Beta and I left Mirror World, but about Maple World eclipsing Grandis." Alpha rubbed his head. "Is that his plan? How do we stop it?"

"It's pretty easy to patch up leaks between worlds," Grendel said, "the time-space continuum is actually quite resilient and…elastic, I believe is the proper term. But stopping a full-out merge is difficult, and reversing one is next to impossible. And I only say 'difficult' and 'next to' because it has never been attempted before; no one has ever tried."

"I don't think it's that simple," Claudine said, "I've got a hunch we're missing some key component."

"There's no basis to think that," Luminous said, "but I agree. There is something else."

"We should run investigations into Black Wing activity," Neinheart said, "stealth and reconnaissance to see if we can pick up any information."

"I can set up some spatial monitoring beacons in key locations," Checky spoke up, "with the right design, we might be able to detect and repair 'leaks' before they become too big."

"What happens if they become too big?" Alpha asked no one in particular.

Luminous frowned.

"As stated before, no one has ever tried," he said, "to put it simply, we don't know what might happen. The best we can hope for, would be that it doesn't happen."

There was general silence around the table. Even Yuuki found himself nodding slowly into the computer screen, which immediately made him feel like an idiot.

"We'll discuss plans in depth later," Neinheart said as he turned towards the computer monitor, "anything else to report?"

"Yes," Yuuki knit his brows together, "we have no healer you twit. Your 'perfect team' has no support."

Neinheart paused for a moment, then the screen flicked off.

The group, minus Tear who was still asleep, stared at the blank screen.

"He's dead." Liuva said. "He's dead, because I'm gonna kill him."

"The Empress wouldn't like that," Aran said, "just dangle him off the edge of Ereve for a few hours instead."

As the group nodded in agreement, the sleeping Tear snorted rather loudly and jolted herself awake. She rubbed her eyes briefly and leaned over the side of the boat.

"You awake?" Aran hummed.

Tear mumbled something.

"We are currently in a boat travelling down the river," Xenon pre-emptively explained, "it has been approximately two hours since we left the island."

Tear mumbled again and pointed at the river.

"Look," she said, "it's Mister Fish! Hi Mister Fish!"

Liuva opened her mouth to comment, but Hayato leaned over the side before she could.

"There's a flying fish from the island following along with us." The samurai deadpanned.

"He caught me when I fell off the waterfall," Tear explained, "so I named him Mister Fish."

"How do you know it's the same fish?" Yuuki asked.

"I just know." She crossed her arms on the side of the boat and yawned. "Hey, Mister Fish, how far have we gone?"

"Assuming a flow rate of 200 feet per second…" Xenon yawned himself. "…pardon…me…"

Hayato rubbed his eyes and Aran continued the yawn.

"I feel…" Liuva hesitated. "…a bit drowsy…"

Yuuki could feel himself nodding off. The world around him began to fade to black.

The six occupants of the boat drifted along the river, and into a peaceful sleep.


	40. Something seems wrong

The light bump against the dock was enough to jolt Aran awake. Over time, she had developed a habit of sleeping lightly, which was an important defense against nocturnal monsters _and_ overzealous teammates armed with permanent markers.

The warrior blinked and took in her surroundings.

A city; a perfectly normal city, seemingly built on a canal. The buildings were made of brick and stone, with streetlights cropping up here and there. The streets were paved with stone and decorated with ornate patterns, with a butterfly motif. Voices chattered in the distance which were probably loud, but from far away sounded like nothing more than whispers.

"Ugh, It's nighttime already?" Came Tear's voice.

Aran turned to see the remainder of her team in various states of waking up after their little unplanned nap.

"Did we all fall asleep?" Hayato asked. "That's just too suspicious. Were we knocked out? We weren't robbed, were we?"

"Doesn't look like it." Liuva dug through their things. "Everything's here."

"It's still suspicious," Yuuki said, "be on your guard here."

Xenon nimbly leapt from the tip of their boat to the edge of the dock. He quickly grabbed a rope and tied off their vehicle, so the rest of the group could disembark.

Aran kept herself quiet; something did seem…not suspicious, really. Something seemed just plain wrong.

"Well, on the bright side…" Tear stretched. "…at least it's a normal city this time around."

"Little too convenient, don't you think?" Liuva challenged.

"Even I can see that," Tear said, "I'm just glad it's not more faceless people or animal people."

"It looks like there's something happening down that street," Yuuki pointed through a crooked alleyway, "we should see if we can find someone."

The group nodded and, after collecting their things from the boat, marched off through the alleyway. Aran lagged behind, occasionally dragging her fingertips across the walls, as if it were some kind of gigantic scratch-and-sniff card that would yield an explanation.

It didn't, obviously, but it helped calm her down and think about everything around her.

She nearly bumped into the group as they exited the alleyway. In front of her eyes lay a sprawling courtyard filled with chattering people. Some carried food, some played musical instruments, some simply chattered.

And all of them wore masks.

A small boy wearing a cat masked rushed by the group, followed by a small girl wearing a rabbit masked chasing after him. As she did, Aran heard her declare something that sounded like: "I'm happy, HAPPY I tell you!"

Aran's eyes narrowed. The feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her something was wrong? Gone. In its place was a loud, blaring siren screaming out into every direction that something. Was. Wrong.

"Yuuki…" Aran began a warning.

"I know, I know…" The warrior sighed. "…doesn't feel right. But I don't think we're walking into a trap, just that something isn't right."

"Does that somehow make it better?"

"No, but it means we're not walking into a trap, so you can feel better about your abilities on the off-chance we get caught."

"That man in the gas mask has been staring at us." Xenon announced.

It was hard to tell, what with all the mask and everything, but there was indeed a man wearing a gas mask staring right at the group.

The man drifted forward through the crowd. The group did not move, instead the man came to a halt directly in front of them, and stared.

"You…" He said in an abnormally clear voice despite the mask, "you are an Awakened…?"

"Awakened?" Hayato asked quizzically.

"You must be careful," the man continued, "this place is dangerous…"

The man suddenly jolted back.

"They're here!" He exclaimed, and vanished into the crowd.

Yuuki blinked.

"I'm hesitant to talk about how weird that was," he said, "because usually when people do that they're immediately–"

A dark blue cloud of smoke erupted in front of and behind the group. Appearing out of nowhere, was a crowd of round, blue creatures wearing tophats and carrying canes. Their faces were shrouded in darkness, and all that was visible of their faces were two glowing yellow eyes.

"…immediately thrown into something weirder…yeah, see, this–this is included in 'immediately weirder', all of this." Yuuki sighed. "Any snarky remarks about walking into traps, then? Anyone? Don't be shy."

"Technically," Xenon said, "the trap may have walked up to us instead."

"You…" One of the creatures spoke in a gravelly, corrupted tone that was fairly standard among evil creatures made of darkness. "…come with us…"

And the group vanished in a puff of dark blue smoke.


	41. Welcome to Lachelein

"I hate being captured." Liuva said.

"Failure is indeed disappointing," Hayato said, "but you must not let it get you down. Look for a point at which we can escape."

"Oh I don't mind the loss itself," Liuva said, "it's the having to wait as we're dragged off to the big evil whoever and it takes forever. It's like the DMV of hero-ing. Not to mention the monologuing of whatever evil scheme they came up with."

"They don't _all_ monologue." Yuuki pointed out.

"No," Liuva sighed, "sometimes they just talk to their guards and carry on their evil plan like you're not there. That's even more annoying."

"Isn't that a bit…uh…" Tear hesitated on the word.

"Callous?" Xenon offered.

"Yeah." Tear said. "That. Like, some of them are cliché, but they are the bad guys and they're doing evil things."

"I guess." Liuva huffed as one of the weird creatures shuffled them along through an alleyway. "I just wish they'd be _less_ cliché, y'know?"

Aran bit her lip. It wasn't that she didn't have anything to add to the conversation, she was just slightly preoccupied with…something…that had been nagging at the back of her mind since they arrived. A feeling she couldn't really put into words too well. Being a hero as long as she had meant one developed an instinct for such odd feelings; not just recognizing them, but taking them to heart as well. You don't get anywhere on the battlefield ignoring these kinds of things.

This one, though...this one just kept bothering her.

The group was marched towards a single, lit streetlamp in the middle of the alleyway. Sitting on a barrel, appearing remarkably bored as a butterfly – probably magic – danced around her fingers, was a girl.

The group was marched some paces away from another captive; one of the citizens, by the looks of things, with a star mask on his face and clutching a lute, trembling just enough that it was visible from where they stood, but not quite enough that it would look comical. The man genuinely looked afraid.

"Tell me…" The girl on the barrel said, as the butterfly settled on her index finger. "…have you ever struggled to awaken from a dream?"

The citizen gulped visibly, but said nothing.

"Even though you know you're dreaming," she continued, "the darkness won't release its hold on you…you are paralyzed, and a feeling of helplessness washes over you."

The girl smiled, her face illuminated harshly by the streetlight.

"P-please…" The citizen finally spoke. "S-spare…me…"

The girl's smile tweaked slightly, she raised one hand, and gave a soft snap of her fingers…and the man was gone. A flash of dim, blue light engulfed him.

And in his place was a small butterfly.

The group went silent from the shock.

"…I don't wanna be a butterfly…" Tear whimpered, to the point it was almost entirely inaudible.

Their captors pushed the group forward in front of the girl.

"Welcome to Lachelein, the city of dreams and illusions." The girl spoke in a tone that made even Xenon shiver.

"Here," she continued, "there is no sadness or pain. I hope your dream is a pleasant one."

The girl raised her hand again, and gave a soft snap of her fingers.

Tear immediately thought of all the happy things that could come out of being a butterfly. Which wasn't a lot, although she did get "looks kinda pretty" on the list. Narrowly opening one eye, which she hadn't realized she had closed tight, she noted a distinct lack of butterfly-ness.

"Nothing…happened?" Yuuki said, appearing to be mid-wince just like Tear.

The girl's smile grew, and a faint blush tinged her face. She clasped her hands together lightly in excitement.

"Oh my!" She exclaimed. "It's you…honored guests."

Aran glared at the girl, and was ready to grab Maha now that her powers seemed to be failing her, only to be interrupted when the lighting overhead abruptly shut itself off.

A gentle hand touched each of the group members lightly and whispered, just loud enough for them to here.

"Hurry, this way!"

It was a unanimous, unspoken agreement that the group did not particularly feel like becoming butterflies that evening. Wasting no time, the group fled towards the voice in the dark.

Aran paused briefly at the entrance to another alleyway, and out of sheer curiosity she hid behind a pile of crates conveniently stacked high enough to block her from view.

"Oh? Well, well…" Aran could here the girl say softly. "You let them get away."

"P-please…" Came a new voice, which Aran barely recognized as the creature that had captured them. "Have mercy…"

There was a distinctive thrum of magic, and one could easily guess whether or not mercy had been shown.

Aran decided she had heard enough. She turned towards the direction her friends had fled in, and stole away into the night.


	42. City of Dreams

Heroes always seemed to arrive fashionably late to important conversations. It was some quirk of the universe, Aran figured; to make up for all their power, heroes were cursed never to arrive early to something. One of these days, Aran swore to this, she would arrive before the conversation started instead of in the middle of the conversation.

Today, much to her frustration, was not that day.

"Protective Mask," said an old man with a scruffy gray beard and a plain eye mask, "you sure are fearless for one so young. You were almost in big trouble."

"I couldn't leave them at Her mercy." Said the man wearing a gas mask, whom the group had bumped into back when they first arrived.

"Indeed…" bearded guy nodded slowly.

Aran snuck up on the group and elbowed Yuuki, giving him a look.

"Gray Mask." Yuuki pointed at the man with the scruffy beard, then he pointed at the man in the gas mask. "Protective Mask."

"Why does everyone we meet have weird names?" Liuva muttered under her breath. "Why not 'Sam' or 'Christina'?"

"Your name is 'Liuva'." Tear pointed out.

"Yeah," she huffed quietly, "and notice how my name doesn't have the word 'mask' in it."

Gray Mask turned towards the group.

"You strangers have a lot of guts to get close to Her like that." He said. "Of course, maybe you don't know any better…well, you're safe now, anyway."

"Who was that woman?" Aran ventured. To Aran, she looked almost like an elf…but…

"Her name is Lucid. Her power is unlike any I've ever seen." Gray Mask said. "She has the ability to manipulate dreams. In fact, Lachelein is really just one great big prison plucked from her own dreams."

Gray Mask sighed.

"And we're the prisoners." He added, almost as an afterthought.

"Lachelein is the name of this city," Yuuki explained to Aran, "they call it the 'Dreaming City'. You can probably guess why now."

"Hah…dreaming…" Gray Mask let out a sad laugh. "For us, it's a city of nightmares."

He took a deep breath before continuing.

"Lachelein is a city of madness," he said, "the people here eat, drink, and dance in a festival that never ends. They're trapped in Lucid's dream, with no idea that any of it is strange in the least."

"Then, who are you?" Yuuki asked.

"We are the Awakened Ones." Gray Mask answered.

"Awakened ones?" Tear scratched her head.

"We were once like the others", he said, "blinded by the dream in all its allure. But, one by one, we awoke to the truth. But our existence puts Lucid's vision in jeopardy, so she sends her minions to hunt us. We flee and hide…for we fear we be transformed into butterflies, doomed to disappear forever."

Tear gulped, still imagining what it'd be like to be a butterfly.

"Can't you escape the city?" Hayato asked.

"Impossible." Gray Mask shook his head. "The fog surrounding the city will not let anyone escape, and it encircles the city in all directions. Try it for yourself if you don't believe me."

"I'll take your word for it." Yuuki sighed, turning to Xenon. "I assume that means our communication link with Neinheart doesn't work either?"

"I don't believe so," Xenon said, "but I am hesitant to try; the bigger risk we run is this 'Lucid' detecting our signal and tracking us down."

"Good point," Yuuki said, "but either way we're cut off."

"What about the river?" Liuva asked. "We could escape underneath the fog."

"The river is an extremely dangerous place," Gray Mask said firmly, "those who fall in are sapped of their energy. And soon, they are torn apart into their component Erda."

"Well," Aran huffed, "isn't that terrible? I thought we were done with the 'deadly water' schtick after that nameless place at the start."

"This town is under Lucid's control," Xenon pointed out, "it makes logical sense to assume that she has taken every precaution to keep the townspeople from escaping on their own."

"B-but we can't be stuck here!" Tear exclaimed. "We have to do something!"

"Looks like you're in the same boat as us." Gray Mask said.

"You…" Protective Mask spoke up. "…you need a mask."

"A mask?" Liuva stared at the man briefly.

"Hm…" Gray Mask thought for a moment. "Heh. Looks like I need to make you a mask so you can fit in."

"Do I _have_ to wear a mask?" Hayato sighed.

"Do you _have_ to wear clothes?" Gray Mask huffed and began rummaging through a box next to him. "Stop nitpicking. I do need materials, though."

Yuuki nodded and turned towards the group.

"Liuva and Xenon," he said, "you two are in the Resistance so you're our best bet for moving around unnoticed."

"Invisible shopping spree." Liuva deadpanned. "Whoopee."

"Oh hush." Yuuki gave her a look. "After we have our masks to blend in, we can focus on breaking the spell on this town."

"Our goal is simple," Gray Mask said, "we must protect the Awakened Ones like us and liberate the city from Lucid's dream."

"Then that's what we'll do." Yuuki said. "Everyone ready?"

"No."

"I am not."

"Not at all."

"Great," Yuuki said, "then let's get started."


	43. The first crack in the subconscious

"Don't you find this all a bit weird?" Aran asked.

Yuuki blinked.

"No, actually." He said. "In fact, compared to the food-animal-things from the last place this is actually pretty refreshing. Y'know, in a dark, creepy, we're-all-gonna-die kind of way."

"What I mean," Aran sighed, "is that I swear I know something about this place, but I can't put my finger on it."

"Well, Lucid manipulates dreams," Yuuki pondered out loud, "and the Destroyed Future was all a dream. Maybe she's the one behind it?"

"Probably," Aran said, "I mean, a person powerful enough to not only collectively manipulate the dreams of all residents in Maple World, but also to make all the dreams real? I refuse to believe there's more than one person capable of that, the world would just be too broken otherwise."

"I thought the person who made the future had long, black hair though." Tear said with a face strained in thought. "And she was human."

"No, I remember someone saying she was an elf," Yuuki said, "but she had long purple hair, not short pink hair."

"Maybe she's just that powerful," Hayato offered, "she might be capable of altering her appearance in her dreams as she chooses."

"That or she got a haircut and a dye job." Aran huffed. "But that's not the point, I swear I remember that name from somewhere."

"Lucid?" Yuuki thought for a moment. "Not ringing any bells here."

"Well, it's ringing one here, and I can't get it to stop." Aran stood up and turned to Gray Mask. "Hey old man, are the alleys relatively safe?"

"Aside from the Bag Masks and the Wood Board Masks, we've had no encounters with Her." Gray Mask waved his hand. "I have no doubt you can handle the Alley Citizens."

"Good," Aran said as she stalked off deeper into the alleyway, "I need some fresh air."

Yuuki shouted some warning about what she should do if she met Lucid or something of the sort, but her thoughts drowned it out as she walked further into the darkness.

She already established that the city unnerved her, and it was pretty difficult to unnerve her. She really did have to quit dwelling on the subject, though; it never made things better.

She stopped ambling after she found herself face-to-face with a large fence, having reached the deepest point in the alley. The din of the party was completely inaudible, and the stone walls of the houses towered over the street like jagged fingers.

Aran blinked, and turned around.

Where the path back to the safehouse should have been was instead…something. It was purple in color, inset into the air so that it seemed to be behind reality. Surrounded by foggy, frosted glass.

A crack. Yeah, that was it. A crack, in reality.

Aran stared at it. As it lacked eyes, it did not stare back.

There was something on the other side. She was certain of that much.

Aran reached out to touch it, as one normally does when they encounter a strange new thing and they don't know what it does or whether or not it's dangerous.

And the alley vanished around her.

* * *

"Excellent work!" Danika smiled. "It's clear the two of you are improving every day. Her Majesty will be pleased to see such young elves giving their all for their kingdom."

"Hehe," Athena giggled, "I couldn't help but do well after all my practicing. Um…hey, Danika, by the way…I was hoping for the opportunity to show Her Majesty the results of my training! I heard that she'll be returning to Elluel soon…"

"Well…" Danika hummed thoughtfully. "She did mention wanting to stop by the training grounds for a visit. She's sorry she hasn't been able to devote as much attention to the two of you as she'd like."

"Really?" Athena let out a cheer. "Yahoo! I-I'm going to train even harder! I've got to kick my training regimen up a notch. But I'm already practicing every day…hmm…archery, running, what else is there?"

"Calm down Athena," Danika chuckled, "I'm glad you're motivated to impress your queen, but don't overdo it."

"Don't worry Danika," Athena said, "I've got oodles of stamina! I'll see you tomorrow! Let's go, Lucid!"

"Goodbye." Lucid said somewhat quietly.

"See you tomorrow." Danika said.

And with that, the Elder of War left the two young elves alone.

"Aren't you stoked?" Athena asked. "It's time to show off all our hard work to her majesty! I'm putting my training into overdrive tomorrow. You'll join me, right?"

"Yeah…" Lucid mumbled. "Tomorrow…"

"Well then," Athena stretched a bit, "I'd better get a full night's sleep, hehe! Bye Lucid!"

"Y-yeah…bye, Athena."

And with that, Athena left the young elf alone.

Some hours later, the sounds of arrows hitting marks could be heard from the training grounds. If one had a trained ear, they would know that they were just shy of a perfect strike.

"Argh!" Lucid groaned in frustration. "There's no use!"

The girl slumped down.

"…as much as I practice, I'll never get it right." She sighed. "If only I was gifted like Athena…then…"

* * *

Thunk!

Thunk!

Thunk!

"All right!" Lucid cheered.

"That was incredible, Lucid." Mercedes smiled warmly. "Dead-center on every shot! I expect great things from you."

"Mercedes…" Lucid turned bright red.

"Your skills are more than just impressive," Mercedes continued, "they're worthy of commendation. I can't wait to see what you can do with Dual Blowguns."

The queen placed her hand on the girl's hair and stroked it gently.

"You've proven my faith in you was not a mistake," she said "I can only imagine how much more amazing you'll be when we next meet…"

"I'm so happy," Lucid giggled, "it's like a dream! I don't ever want to wake up…to…wake up…"

* * *

Lucid blinked the sleep from her eyes and, when that failed, rubbed them gently.

"It was a dream again…" She sighed. "But it felt so real. Everything was finally going the way I wanted…"

She paused.

"The way I wanted…" She mused. "W-wait a minute…that was too real to be a dream. The warmth of the sun, the scent on the breeze…it can't have been an ordinary dream!"

She stood up.

"I wove the dream how I wanted it. I was in control." She glanced at her hands. "The ability to control dreams…anyone can be good at archery, but this is a power that I alone possess!"

Lucid smiled, and wandered off to bed.

The very next morning, a song drifted through the trees of Elluel and landed on the ears of anyone who listened.

"I have never heard such a beautiful melody," Mercedes said, "I feel completely at ease."

"Tonight you'll have a wonderful dream!" Lucid said proudly. "I've seen to it, hehe."

"You possess a remarkable ability, Lucid." The queen said.

"What's this music?" Danika peered in from behind an archway. "It's so relaxing! It's like all of my fatigue has just drifted away. I'm gonna sleep like a baby tonight!"

"Wow, what a pretty music box." Deet said as he wandered up the steps towards the growing crowd.

"Look Lucid," Mercedes said happily, "everyone is gathering to listen to your music. This music box may just become Elluel's greatest treasure. I think that everyone will rest easy after listening to this melody."

Lucid frowned.

'No…' She thought. 'This isn't what I wanted…it was a gift for Her Majesty! No…'

The song drifted away through the trees of Elluel, blending into the noise of the others.

'That's it?' She thought. 'Is my ability not as impressive as Athena's archery? She didn't even complement me…she was just talking about that stupid music box!'

Lucid rubbed at her eye.

'I'll show her. I can do better. I'm going to practice my skill. I'll make myself invaluable. Then…she'll have to keep me to herself…'

A butterfly crossed the scene, trailing along with it a cloud of purple dust.

* * *

Aran blinked again as Elluel took the form of the Lachelein alley, the sounds of the eternal party bouncing quietly off the walls of the houses surrounding her.

"Huh."


	44. Finding the Awakened Ones

"I feel like I look foolish," Hayato said as he tugged at one of the strings on his mask, "which might have something to do with the fact that I, in fact, look foolish."

"It's fine," Tear said, "you look…fine."

"You hesitated."

"Well…"

"Oh come on," Liuva huffed, "you're just happy because Eskalade magic'd you up a mask to match your outfit."

Tear rubbed the side of a rather sparkly, pink mask nonchalantly.

"Can't have my girl out performing in mismatched-clothes." The dragon's voice chimed in from the relic piece.

Liuva mumbled out some choice insults underneath her breath.

"Everyone ready?" Yuuki asked. "Aran, you're not spacing out on us?"

Aran nodded, still slightly spaced out.

"Alright then," he nodded, "Gray Mask?"

The old man nodded in return.

"Our goal is simple," he said, "we must protect the Awakened Ones like us and liberate the city from Lucid's dream."

"So our first task should be locating the other Awakened Ones." Hayato said.

"And bring them back here." Gray Mask finished. "They will likely be hidden among the dreaming townsfolk."

"The city is divided into roughly three main areas," Xenon said, "there is the main street, which is where we arrived and to which we are closest. Then there is the market on one side, and the ballroom on the other. If we split into groups of two, we ought to be able to locate the Awakened Ones more efficiently."

"Shouldn't we stick together?" Tear bit her lip. "What if…She comes back?"

"We're undercover right now." Liuva said plainly. "We shouldn't really have more than two people together at any given point. Different groups can be in the same area if they need to share information or if one area is already explored, but only one person per group should break away to talk to the others if possible; always keep the number of people in a given group at an absolute minimum. Never interact in a group larger than three, _if_ that's necessary."

"Tear is right though, we ought to have a signal in case something goes wrong." Hayato said.

"A signal _if_ you can," Liuva challenged, "but the best thing you can do in… _that_ situation…is scatter. Sticking around to cast a spell of some kind for a flare would be about as dumb as trying to fight Her directly on your own."

"She's right," Xenon said, "one of the benefits of splitting up is that it is more difficult to get caught individually. Sending up a rudimentary flare of some sort would warn the others, but it would also hinder your own escape. There is also a notable risk of exposing our allies with said flare."

Yuuki hesistated.

"Fine," he said, "I'll trust you two on this since you know a lot more about this kind of thing than me. Radio silence it is."

He thought for a moment.

"Liuva and Tear can go together and investigate the ballroom, Hayato and I will handle the market, and Xenon and Aran can handle the main street. Agreed?"

"Agreed." The group chorused.

"Mmhm." Aran mumbled.

"Great," Yuuki said, "go team us, woohoo and all that, yadda yadda."

And just like that, the group went their separate ways.

Aran blinked, and turned to see Xenon standing next to her expectantly.

"Wait, what's happening right now?

* * *

"You saw her memories?" Xenon asked curiously as the pair walked casually through the main street.

"I think so?" Aran thought for a moment. "It looked like her. A young version of her, anyway."

"And Queen Mercedes knew her personally?"

"Mercedes knows every elf personally." Aran huffed slightly. "But yeah, by the looks of things Mercedes cared about her as much as any other elf."

"But she didn't like it?"

"She liked it too much. Y'ever seen one of those cliché bad guys who can't get a date because they're, y'know, evil? And they go 'if I can't have you no one will muahahaha!'?"

Xenon blinked.

"I…cannot say I have."

"They're the worst!" Aran complained. "Not just because they're evil, mind you, but because the whole routine so hackneyed and stupid. It's like they based their entire knowledge of 'love' on cheesy B-rated movie villains, and didn't even have the common sense to realize that the villain is, y'know, a villain and is contractually obligated to _always fail_."

"Based on your description, I think…you are saying…she had feelings for the queen?"

Aran grimaced and nodded.

"She actually said– or thought? I'm not sure how it works– Mercedes would have to 'keep her to herself'. Granted, it was after saying she'd have to make herself 'invaluable', which normally I could respect…a little…I think…but still."

"My knowledge of the emotion of love is limited due to my situation," Xenon said, "but I believe the term is 'clingy'."

"Putting it lightly…" Aran murmured. "Switching topics, how are we supposed to find these 'Awakened Ones'? Just tap them on the shoulder and ask 'hey, are you awake?'"

"We should look for a pattern, and find the one who deviates from the mold." The cyborg said.

There was a light 'whump' as Aran walked right into a woman wearing a simple black mask and a white flower in her hair.

"Sorry about that," Aran said, "you okay?"

"Good, great!" Said the woman cheerfully. "Eating is happiness, eating constantly is constant happiness. I eat constantly in the midst of happiness, my life is unending happiness!"

And with that, she _skipped_ away. Literally. The pair stared after the woman for a moment.

"Y-you heard that, right?" Aran asked. "That…that wasn't just me?"

"We…have a pattern, it seems." Xenon paused for a moment. "A…rather creepy pattern."

"Have I mentioned me not liking this place? I feel like I should point out that I don't like this place."

"Several times." The cyborg said, glancing around at the crowd. "Where should we begin?"

Aran scanned the crowd herself. To her surprise, it wasn't too difficult to pick out the one person who didn't have a smile plastered on their face that would make Fanzy nervous.

"Let's start over there, with that sad guy wearing a giant shrimp on his head." Aran blinked repeatedly for a few seconds. "Sometimes I say words, and then I find myself wondering why we live in a world where those words can be said without any ounce of irony."

She paused again.

"Hey!" She called out, not too loudly. "Shrimp-guy!"

The man in question glared at her. It was about as menacing as men in shrimp-shaped hats tend to be.

"Hey, could we ask you a few questions…?" Aran ventured.

"No." He huffed. "I…I'm rather busy, at the moment…"

"We just want to know if you're…" Aran fiddled with her thumbs. "…an…a…y'know?"

"Are you Awake?" Xenon completed, more for the sake of finishing Aran's rambling than anything else.

"Quiet!" The man hissed. "Are you trying to call the Dreamkeepers?"

"We are trying to get you to a safe place." Xenon said. "Away from the Dreamkeepers."

The man paused.

"…really?"

The pair nodded in sync.

He hesitated, clearly trying to tell if it was safer venturing off with two random strangers or remain still and hope he didn't get turned into a butterfly.

Eventually, the instinctive desire not to be turned into a butterfly won out.

"Okay then." He said. "Take me to this 'safe' place."

Aran bit her lip.

"What is it?" Xenon asked.

"Nothing, nothing…" She said. "Just…wondering how to quip that this was easy without jinxing it."

"I have heard crossing your fingers works." Xenon replied

"Was…that sarcasm?"

"No, entirely sincere."

"Oh…was that–"

"Yes, yes it was."


	45. The second crack in the subconscious

"That seemed rather easy." Protective Mask said.

Aran let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and, out of view of anyone who mattered, uncrossed her fingers.

"This is your 'hideout'?" Shrimp Mask asked. "Well, it's…something, I suppose."

"I know it's not much…" Gray Mask began.

"Anywhere without the Dreamkeepers around is good in my book." Shrimp Mask interrupted, waving his hands dismissively.

"I do not believe the other Awakened Ones will be this easy to find," Xenon said, "we should find some way to identify them without merely asking someone odd questions."

"Don't think anyone was doubting it." Aran said before turning to face Shrimp Mask. "Do you…remember anything?"

"Memories from before?" Shrimp Mask mused. "Well, I'm not sure…it's like that feeling when you wake up from a dream and can't remember what you just dreamed about. But there's this sound I always hear…"

"Sound?" Aran asked. "What, like from an instrument?"

"No, from…" Shrimp Mask paused and made an odd face. "…Do you…hear that?"

Aran listened closely. The alleyway blocked much of the party, but one could still hear the chatter of a thousand voices, or the music of a lively band.

Among that cacophonous symphony was the light twinkling of a piano; dim, but identifiable and distinct. As if played from a–

"Yes, of course!" Shrimp Mask exclaimed. "The old music box! It was the only thing that could get me to sleep."

"A music box?" Gray Mask hummed. "I think I remember…but it's strange that we Awakened Ones can't hear it. Maybe that's the device maintaining the dreams of the townspeople."

"It sounds so far away, though…." Shrimp Mask said. "The last time I heard it clearly was…near the market, I guess?"

"Hayato and Yuuki are near there," Aran said, "we should let them know what's going on."

"Agreed." Protective Mask said. "And I'm going with you this time."

* * *

"Do you see them?" Aran asked as Xenon scanned the surrounding area.

"As mentioned the last 32 times, no." Xenon said. "And that was not a hyperbole. You have asked me that exact question 32 times. I have been counting."

"Sorry…"

"I know it sounds a bit silly," Xenon said, "but I can't particularly find anyone with all the masks."

"Seriously?" Aran snorted and tugged at hers. "They're pretty flimsy as far as disguises go."

"We all hide behind our masks." Protective Mask said. "The ones we wear to the outside world protect our true selves from being discovered."

"You realize that sounds like poetry written by a hormonal teenager, right?" Aran asked.

"I do," Protective Mask huffed, "but it works, for whatever reason. The Dream Keepers have the same problem your friend is having."

"I would suspect it has to do with the Erdas." Xenon said as he peered around a stand selling various grilled fish. "I'm certain the Magician's Association and the researchers at the Temple of Time would love to investigate, when this is all over."

"When it's over…" Protective Mask repeated.

"Speaking of 'over', looks like our search is." Aran pointed towards a small stand selling fruits no one could identify, beside which was a pair of familiar faces hidden behind cheap little masks.

Xenon nodded in confirmation and left to rendezvous with their colleagues.

Aran glanced over at her remaining companion. The man's mask made his face unreadable, even at the best of times, but Aran could tell he was deep in thought anyway, leaving the warrior alone with her thoughts.

She did her best to block out the sounds of the market and, much to her surprise, she succeeded; the voices grew dimmer and more distance, the dancing shadows cast by the lights grew to a standstill.

Aran blinked, and before her eyes appeared a small crack.

"So then, we're doing this again?" She murmured to no one in particular, as every person surrounding her had vanished completely.

The crack did not respond. Aran sighed.

"Alright," she said, "I'll admit it, you got me curious."

She reached out a hand, and the market vanished around her.

* * *

"Stay safe, your Majesty." Philius said.

Mercedes smiled.

"Thank you, Philius." She said. "Thank you everyone…"

Lucid frowned.

'I have a bad feeling about this.' She thought. 'What if she doesn't come back? This could be the last time we ever see her!'

Lucid clenched her fist.

'I have to go with her! I'll fight too!'

Her grip loosened slightly, then tightened even more.

'Even if I'm no good at archery…'

"I'll fight by your side!" A commanding, albeit young voice rang out. "Take me with you to the battlefield!"

Athena came running up through the crowd of elves that had gathered to see off their queen, stopping just before the elders.

"I want to help!" Athena said. "Please let me come with you!"

"I want to fight too!" Came another voice, this time far younger and far less commanding.

"No, Deet, you're too young!" Danika scolded. She sighed and turned towards the queen. "Your Majesty…"

Mercedes smiled warmly.

"Thank you both," she said, "but you must remain behind. It is my duty as your ruler to protect you, not the other way around. Trust in me and watch over Elluel while I am away."

'Mercedes…' Lucid thought.

* * *

Night had fallen, with one lone little elf far outside of her bed where she should have been. Lucid paced up and down near the outskirts of the city, occasionally mumbling to herself.

"The more I think about it," she said aloud, "the more certain I am. I can't give up."

She paced some more.

"Why did I hesitate? I should have been the first to offer my help! If I hadn't waited, things could have turned out differently…"

She pumped her fists in the air close to her chest.

"Be brave, Lucid!" She told herself. "You can convince her! There's still time!"

With her mind made up, she raced through the trees, running the path her queen had already walked. She could see them through the bushes; the elder of war, Danika had stopped the queen to talk of strategy. She just had to–

"Your Majesty, wait!" Athena's voice rang out as the girl ran forward, meeting the two older elves in the middle of the clearing. "I still have something to say!"

"If you're here to ask to tag along," Danika frowned, "I won't hear it. Return to the village."

Athena fell back a bit.

"Y-you're right, that's what I came here to say. But…" She paused. "I-I have to come! Because I…"

"Very well." Mercedes interrupted, then turned to dig something out of her bag. "Athena, I want you to carry this with you."

The queen held out something which made Lucid grow cold.

"That's…" Athena blinked. "The Mistelteinn!"

Mercedes smiled.

"It will protect you." She said, as she passed treasure into the younger girl's hands.

Lucid slumped to the ground.

"No…" She said quietly, on the verge of tears. "She gets everything handed to her! And now, even Elluel's greatest treasure…the Mistelteinn…"

She stared at the ground, as if willing it to open and swallow her up.

"There's nothing I can say or do that will change anything…Athena Pierce will always be her favorite…"

She slammed her hand on the ground, and it sank slightly in the dirt.

"I hate them all." She said bluntly. "Athena Pierce, this stupid kingdom, and everyone in it! Why do they stand in my way?!"

A handful of butterflies passed by, and the scene dissolved into purple dust.


	46. 65,535 victories, and not a single loss

"Aran?" Xenon snapped his fingers in front of the warrior. "Aran?"

The woman stared blankly ahead, eyes rather unfocused. Xenon briefly entertained the idea of lightly tasing the girl with his whip blade.

Alas, she snapped out of her trance before he could pull out the weapon.

"I had another vision of Lucid's past." Aran announced, rather bluntly.

"Was there anything of value to be learned?" Xenon asked.

"Only that Mercedes deserves a healthy portion of 'fist to the head' for not checking her surroundings more clearly." Aran waved a hand. "Otherwise, crazy girl still crazy."

"She…has no reason for joining the Black Mage?"

"Not that I've seen," the hero sighed, "so far, anyway…she acts…acted…whatever…like a petulant child who clearly has no real idea of what battle is like."

Aran shook her head.

"Enough about that, what's the situation right now?"

"Not much, I'm afraid." Xenon shifted so as to be a bit less uncomfortable. "Yuuki and Hayato haven't found anything, and have elected to return to the hideout. They tried investigating by speaking with the residents, but they were immediately sidetracked by a man looking for his chicken…"

"Chicken?"

"Chicken."

Xenon pointed towards a man in a rather silly red mask and a jester hat who was fawning over…

"That is a chicken." Aran said.

"A chicken." Xenon confirmed.

"No, but, like…" Aran bit her lip. "…it's…whole…roasted…juggling garlic…"

"It is apparently named 'Elizabeth'," Xenon said, "and has a tomato allergy."

The pair stared at the chicken.

"Xenon?"

"Yes?"

"I'm frightened."

"I am experiencing a similar feeling."

"Where's Protective Mask?" She asked, quickly attempting to change the subject.

"He went to investigate further into the market." He pointed over to his left. "Apparently, they host an eternal pie eating contest of some kind."

"How terrible."

"Sarcasm?"

"Some," Aran admitted, "but mixed with genuine concern."

* * *

The city did indeed host an eternal pie-eating contest, as the duo soon discovered. The pie was cooked (from what ingredients, Aran could not imagine), the pie was eaten (when it was expelled, Aran could not and actively chose not to imagine), the victor was crowned (this, in fact, Aran could imagine, as she watched it happen another 3 times).

And the victor, it seemed, was always Pie Mask.

A man wearing a huge watermelon on his head (not to be confused with the man with the smaller but still rather large watermelon on his head) had informed the pair that he, Huge Watermelon Mask, had lost a grand total of 65,535 times, all to the man wearing a large pie on his face (pumpkin pie, if Aran guessed correctly).

65,535 times a winner, until as always Huge Watermelon Mask became jealous and broke the victory plates Pie Mask had accumulated. At which point, the record reset and the contest began anew, as that is what tends to happen when one participates in an eternal pie eating contest.

Naturally, they decided to speak with Pie Mask. This, however, was proving difficult.

"This is the city of dreams and illusions!" The man bellowed, all the while jiggling like Santa Claus in an earthquake. "We eat, drink and dance! That is why all of us are happy!"

"But…" Aran hesitated. "…aren't you, y'know, worried about anything?"

"We don't have any worries, ha ha!" The man took a swig from his drink. "Life is perfect here!"

Xenon frowned.

"Are you happy with such a shallow existence?" He asked.

"This is the city of dreams an illusions! Ha ha ha!" The man guffawed like a record stuck in repeat.

"This is getting us nowhere," Aran hissed to her companion, "at this rate we'll be found out by the Dreamkeepers before we find what we need."

"You're not happy." A voice said. Protective Mask stepped forward from wherever it was that he had been standing.

Pie Mask sputtered indignantly.

"I'm absolutely happy!" He huffed. "You three are disturbing my happiness! I'm thinking about calling the Dreamkeepers!"

Aran began to reach behind her for Maha at the threat, but Protective Mask stood his ground.

"That won't make you happy." He said, rather plainly.

Pie Mask's single visible eye narrowed, then widened, then narrowed, then widened, then winced.

"Argh…" He grumbled.

"We will help you, whatever your troubles may be." Protective Mask said, his voice was rather soothing; not soft and silky but comforting to hear.

"I…" Pie Mask hesitated. "I've won this eating contest 65,535 times. Winning is meaningless now."

He frowned.

"No one congratulates me."

It was hard for Aran to feel sad for a man wearing a pie on his face, but the sympathy managed to weasel its way in there.

"Shall we congratulate you?" Protective Mask asked.

* * *

"…and the winner is…Pie Mask!"

"Wow! Did you see that? That was a lot of food!"

"I lost? How could I lose? I was so sure this would be my first victory!"

"I did it…" Pie Mask smirked. "Look at me, I'm the winner! Admire me! I'm so happy…aren't I…?"

Pie Mask frowned.

"I don't understand…" He said. "I should feel happy right now, shouldn't I?"

The man began to stumble around, clutching at his stomach.

"Ugh…" He gulped. "I don't feel so–"

There was a sound, like the breaking of plates, and Pie Masked vanished. Replaced with a wooden object painted gold, which leaked the most beautiful music one had ever heard.

"He…" Aran gaped. "He turned into a music box?!"

"It's just as I suspected…" Protective Masked glared at the device, as much as one could while wearing a gas mask. "The music boxes are what's maintaining this dreamworld!"

"Then…if we destroy it…" Xenon clutched at his whip blade.

There was a puff of blue smoke behind the group as a group of Dreamkeepers materialized.

"The music box…" One said menacingly. "Hands off…"

Protective Mask stood in front of the group.

"I'll buy you some time, destroy it!"

It took a moment for Aran's brain to catch up with reality. She watched Protective Mask speed towards the Dreamkeepers before it clicked in her mind that she really ought to do something that actually helped matters.

Gripping Maha's hilt, she yanked the polearm out and over her head. Xenon pulled his whip blade back as it sparked with energy.

Aran wasn't sure which attack hit the box first, only that she was, like, 70% certain hers did the most damage (not to brag, or anything). It was far more durable than she expected, but easily taken down nonetheless with the two of them.

"We did it…" Aran said, then turned towards the Dreamkeepers, ready for a fight.

"Protective Mask!" Xenon shouted.

The man in the gas mask had all but collapsed on the ground. Dirt marred the otherwise perfect mask, a horde of Dreamkeepers surrounding him like vultures.

The Dreamkeepers looked up from their prey.

"We're too late…" One said, its voice barely betraying emotion. "The music box…"

"The dream is…fading…" Another said.

And just like that, the creatures who had frightened the group the minute they arrived had vanished, crumbled into a rainbow dust that scattered to the wind.


	47. Sleeping wake

Saying "it was like waking up from a dream" would be cliché.

It would also be false: it was more like a dizzy spell you get from anemia, where everything becomes hyper-clear yet fuzzy at the same time. Dozens of party-goers stumbled back. Some clutched their heads lightly. Some wobbled on the balls of their feet. Some felt something inside them switch on, other felt something inside them switch off.

Aran felt nauseous just trying to think about how nauseous she was feeling.

"What's going on?" One of the townsfolk asked.

"Where am I?" Another scratched his head.

"What was I doing just now?" A third wondered.

"My memories…" Protective Mask clutched his head in pain. "Argh! My head…"

"Protective Mask?" Xenon reached out towards him. "Are you okay? What is going on?"

"Don't worry about me, take them to safety! But…where is safe…?" He trailed off.

"Should we take them to the hideout?" Xenon asked.

"All of them?" Aran wondered aloud, silently counting the number of people in the square.

"No." Protective Mask answered. "You saw how the Dreamkeepers vanished when the music box was destroyed…this place may actually be safer than the hideout."

"Then we should return to the hideout alone." Xenon said.

"Hey!" A new voice rang out from somewhere. A man wearing a watermelon mask came running towards the trio. "Let me come too!"

Aran glanced warily at Protective Mask. His expression was unreadable, for a multitude of reasons, but eventually he nodded.

* * *

"The dream will collapse when enough citizens awaken," Protective Mask stated, "we need to destroy the remaining music boxes for that to happen."

"What are you saying?" Gray Mask shifted on his cane. "There are more music boxes?"

"When the first music box was destroyed, my mind was flooded with Lucid's memories." Protective Mask explained. "Lachelein…this entire city is her dream. And the music boxes are what keep it from collapsing upon itself."

"And the Dreamkeepers protect the music boxes." Hayato reasoned. "That would explain why they were hunting us."

"But we still don't know what Lucid is trying to accomplish using Lachelein." Yuuki pointed out. "What reason is there to put an entire city into a dream? Especially a dream about a party, of all things."

"We'll find out eventually." Gray Mask stroked his beard.

"This place is so exhausting!" Watermelon Mask moaned.

"Speaking of finding out things…" Yuuki stole a glance at the newcomer. "Do you remember anything now that you're awakened?"

"Now that I think about it…" Watermelon Mask hesitated. "I saw Lucid before I woke up. She was mumbling, something like 'where is the nightmare?'"

"Nightmare?" Aran perked up.

Watermelon Mask nodded. "That's what she said. She also looked nervous."

Yuuki frowned.

"Gray Mask, what do you think?"

"She's looking for a nightmare…?" The old man thought for a moment. "Lachelein is a dream that Lucid made herself, but there could be elements of her dream that even she cannot control."

"Nightmares." Aran concluded.

Gray Mask nodded. "We don't know what form it might take, but it could be the key to defeating her."

"Hmm…seems a bit weird to say the nightmare is a good thing," Yuuki half-joked, "normally you'd think the nightmares would be the things we have to defeat."

"She is evil," Hayato pointed out, "evil people nightmares might not be so scary to us."

Aran snorted. "What, you expect us to defeat one of the Black Mage's Commanders with a pot of singing flowers or something?"

"I said things that aren't scary." Hayato said.

He paused a beat.

"Flowers do not have the lungs necessary to sing." He insisted.

"I was only guessing, of course." Gray Mask suppressed a chuckle. "Don't get too worked up over it."

Yuuki bit his finger to avoid making a remark.

"Do you remember anything about the music box?" Xenon asked Watermelon Mask.

"Music box…" He hesitated. "You know, maybe I woke up because you destroyed it…ah! I remember. I heard the same sound from far away, even after the music box was destroyed. But once I had fully awoken, it was gone."

"Where was it coming from?" Yuuki asked.

"It was coming from…Lachelein Ballroom, I think."

"Great," Yuuki said, "Tear and Liuva are already investigating there, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find it."

"There is hope after all…" Gray Mask smiled. "We'll be able to liberate this city if we carry on and destroy the music boxes."

"It's too early to jump to conclusions," Protective Mask said warily, "Lucid has not made a move, and the Dreamkeepers are holding back…we still don't know what it will take to defeat Lucid."

"You're right," Yuuki said, "we need to be careful until we know more."

* * *

"Let me guess…" The woman sighed in exasperation. "You're here to say you let them interfere with my plan. Am I correct?"

The Dreamkeeper's knees quaked in fear, though as he was floating he looked more like a fish flopping about on a hook.

"Awakened one…strong…" He murmured, not daring to look his mistress in the eyes. "The others…incompetent…have mercy…"

Mercy was not had.

The Dreamkeeper collapsed into a pile of dust, leaving behind a small butterfly, which flew lazily to rest on the ledge of the clock tower.

Lucid stared at the butterfly, then at her town below.

"I see," she said to no one in particular, "you must be the one my master has chosen."

She clenched her fist.

"Or…are you here for _me_?" She growled. "Either way…it changes nothing."

Her expression darkened as music drifted from the party below. A symphony of raucous laughter and joyous cheers.

"So go ahead, struggle with all your might. Cling to that false hope. Just as I did within that block of frigid ice."

She stole one last glance at her city, the chorus of a music box holding it all together.

"Just like me, in that unending dream…"


End file.
